ShareChat

ShareChat is an Indian social networking service platform,[1] owned by Bangalore-based Mohalla Tech. It was founded by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan,[2] and incorporated on 8 January 2015.[3] ShareChat app has over 350 million monthly active users[4][5] across 15 Indian languages.[6][7] The current valuation of the company is $5 billion.[8]

ShareChat
Developer(s)Mohalla Tech
Initial releaseOctober 2015 (2015-10)
Stable release(s)
Android2023.6.9 / 26 April 2023 (2023-04-26)
iOS23.7.1 / 15 April 2023 (2023-04-15)
Operating system
Size
Available in15 languages
List of languages
Type
LicenceFreeware
Websitewww.sharechat.com

Foundation and history

ShareChat's holding company, Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd, was incorporated in January 2015 by graduate from Indian Institutes of Technology Kanpur:[9] Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and as of 2020, employed over 2500 people.[10]

Initially, ShareChat primarily worked as a content sharing platform, without any scope of users generating their own content. In April 2016, however, ShareChat enabled user-generated content creation on its platform, allowing its users to share their own posters and creative content. At around the same time, it also introduced open tagging for users, which would allow anyone to create their own hashtags depending on the content.[11]

In January 2023, Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Pratap Singh stepped down from their respective roles as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.[12][13] As of 2022, Manohar Singh Charan (CFO) and Amit Zunjarwad (CPO) led the management along with Ankush Sachdeva (CEO).[14][15]

Acquisitions

In March 2019, Mohalla Tech acquired Transversal Tech-owned short video sharing platform, Clip.[16] In February 2020, it acquired Bengaluru-based online fashion marketplace Elanic.[17] In March 2020, it acquired a meme discovery and sharing platform, Memer.[18] In August 2020, it acquired a hyperlocal information platform, Circle Internet.[19] Sharechat parent company also bought MX TakaTak from Times Internet Group for $700 million in one of the biggest acquisitions of 2022.[20][21]

Funding

In September 2020, ShareChat raised $40 million from investors Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp, Ajay Shridhar Shriram of DCM Shriram, Twitter, SAIF Partners, Lightspeed Ventures, and India Quotient.[22] By April 2021, ShareChat had raised $500 million from investors and was valued at over $2 billion.[23] In May 2022, ShareChat raised $300 million from Google, Times Group and Temasek Holdings at a valuation of $5 billion.[24]

Initiatives against misinformation

On 17 April 2019, ShareChat took down around half a million pieces of content and removed 54,000 accounts for spreading fake news, hate speech and spam, and for conducting coordinated misinformation campaigns.[25]

Issues
  • ShareChat accused Bytedance of copying its design: Helo, another social media platform formerly owned by TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, is one of ShareChat's competitors. In 2018, ShareChat accused Bytedance of copying its design and UI pixel to pixel in 2018. Following Delhi High Court's direction, Bytedance changed its design for Helo.[26]
  • Layoffs and rehiring: In May 2020, ShareChat laid off 101 employees.[27][28] They have since rehired over 50% of the laid-off workforce after the launch of the video platform Moj.[29] In December 2022, ShareChat laid off another 5% of its workforce.[30]

Apps

ShareChat

ShareChat app is multilingual social media platform, with 180 million monthly active users. It offers its users multiple options to express themselves through audio chat rooms, photo and video posts, status updates, microblogging, blogging, and direct messaging in 15 Indic languages. This allows regional audiences to connect with like-minded users and communities.[31]

Features:

  • Audio chat rooms: ShareChat audio chatroom is voice-based hangout destination. This feature allows its users to discuss various topics in detail across 15 regional languages.[1]
  • Virtual gifting: ShareChat also offers Virtual Gifting where users can reward their favourite creator or host through digital tokens as a gesture of appreciation for their content. As of December 2022, this feature supported over 64,000 creators in monetising their content.[1][31]
  • SCTV: SCTV is a long-form video format that allows users to create elaborate videos ranging from 2 to 15 minutes.[1]

Moj

ShareChat's app Moj, launched on 29 June 2020, is a short-video platform that emulates the features of TikTok, which was among the apps banned by the Indian government in June 2020.

In a tweet, Ankush Sachdeva, co-founder and CEO of ShareChat, said the app was coded in 30 hours. It has received Google Play Best of 2020 Awards, as of 1 December 2020.[32]

Moj has over 160 million monthly active users.[33][34]

References
  1. "4 interesting ShareChat features that content creators should try out". TimesNow. 18 August 2022. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. Chakraborty, Sayan. "ShareChat: The no-English social network". Forbes India. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  3. Chathurvedula, Sadhana (3 May 2017). "ShareChat finds its niche with local languages". mint. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  4. "ShareChat closes $520 million funding round at $5 billion valuation". Moneycontrol. 16 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  5. Bhalla, Kritti (5 November 2020). "ShareChat's Monthly Active User Base Reaches 160 Mn, Riding On Tier". Inc42 Media. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  6. "ShareChat's Moj and MX Taka Tak will soon be one short video app". The Indian Express. 11 February 2022. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  7. "MX TakaTak, Moj to merge". The Times of India. TNN. 11 February 2022. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. Sarkar, John (16 June 2022). "ShareChat closes $520 million round at $5 billion valuation". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  9. "IIT-K alumni-made ShareChat app wields local languages to challenge Facebook". Hindustan Times. 7 June 2016. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  10. "ShareChat hires back half of laid-off employees, expected to add another 150-200 in six months". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  11. Ani (7 May 2018). "ShareChat announces 'Private Messaging', 'Shake-N-Chat', 'Open Tagging' on its platform". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  12. "ShareChat cofounders Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Pratap Singh to step down". The Economic Times. 25 January 2023. ISSN 0013-0389. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  13. Soni, Yatti (25 January 2023). "ShareChat's two co-founders step down from active roles". The Hindu Business Line. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  14. Singh, Rajiv (25 February 2022). "Meet The MSD Of Finance: Sharechat's Manohar Singh Charan". Forbes India. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  15. "Amit Zunjarwad joins ShareChat as Chief Product Officer". ETHR World. 19 April 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  16. Khatri, Bhumika (1 March 2019). "Exclusive: Clip Gets Acquired By ShareChat In All Cash Deal To Help It Fight Off ByteDance in India". Inc42 Media. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  17. Rawat, Aman (25 February 2020). "Acquisitions". INC42. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  18. Laghate, Gaurav (27 April 2020). "ShareChat buys meme sharing app Memer". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  19. Banerjee, Prasid (24 August 2020). "ShareChat acquires hyperlocal information platform Circle Internet". Livemint. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  20. "ShareChat buys MX TakaTak for USD 700 million". New Indian Express. 11 February 2022. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  21. Sil, Debarghya (7 December 2022). "2022 In Review: Startup M&As Surge Amidst Funding Crunch & Downturn". Inc42 Media. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  22. "Twitter-backed Indian social network ShareChat raises $40 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  23. Murgia, Madhumita (7 April 2021). "ShareChat valued at $2bn after India's TikTok ban". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  24. Vengattil, Munsif (30 May 2022). "Google backs India's ShareChat in $300 mln funding round at $5 bln valuation". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  25. Mandavia, Megha (17 April 2019). "ShareChat takes down half a million pieces of content, 54K accounts removed". The Economic Times. Mumbai. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  26. Christopher, Nilesh (5 November 2018). "ByteDance: Taken to court by ShareChat, ByteDance says Helo to new design". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  27. Grados, O. B. (April 1975). "[The laboratory in programs for enteric infection control]". Boletin de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana. Pan American Sanitary Bureau. 78 (4): 318–322. ISSN 0030-0632. PMID 123456. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  28. Mandavia, Megha (21 May 2020). "ShareChat lays off 101 employees as advertising market tanks". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  29. "ShareChat hires back half of laid-off employees, expected to add another 150-200 in six months". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  30. "ShareChat lays off 5% of employees, shuts fantasy gaming vertical Jeet11". The Economic Times. 2 December 2022. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  31. P, Suraksha (7 October 2022). "ShareChat's virtual gifting feature generates $50 million annually". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  32. "Google Play Best of 2020 Awards Revealed". 1 December 2020. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  33. "India's ShareChat valued at $2.88 billion in $145 million fundraise". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  34. Upadhyay, Harsh (27 July 2021). "ShareChat raises $145 Mn at a valuation of $2.88 Bn". Entrackr. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
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