According to regulatory documents, Indian microblogging platform Koo has secured $10 million (Rs 79 crore) in two tranches from a group of investors, including Caspier Venture Partner, Ashneer Grover, and Ravi Modi Family Trust.
The company said it has allotted 3,389 Series B2 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to seven investors for Rs 28 crore as part of the first tranche, which was completed in January.
FBC Venture Partners, Yulubike’s Hemant Gupta, and Adventz Finance Private Limited were among the other investors in the round. The company raised Rs 51 crore from 28 investors a month later by issuing 6,142 Series B2 CCPS shares.
In an interview in 2021, Aprameya Radhakrishna, cofounder and CEO, said he expected the company to grow rapidly. “We haven’t started monetisation yet. We will focus on growth until we get at least 100 million downloads. Till then, it’s about acceleration to get to those numbers. We should hit that mark in a year,” he added.
Due to its rapid expansion, the company is being courted by a number of strategic and financial investors. It is in talks with investors, according to sources, to secure a substantial amount of money.
Koo, India’s social networking platform, was founded in March 2020 by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka. Koo is a Twitter-like online platform explicitly designed for Indians who want to express themselves in their local tongue. According to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, this website and app won the AatmaNirbhar innovation competition and is a Made in India offering.
Recently, there is a lot of discussions about the Koo app. People are treating it as an Indian version of Twitter. Indian Government is promoting Koo app after the recent controversy with Twitter. Some noted Ministers like Piyush Goyal have joined Koo app.
A few days back, Kangana Ranaut also wrote in support of the Koo app and requested her fans to join the platform. Kangana is a noted Bollywood actress. She remains in news for her controversial statements related to her colleagues and politics.
One month back, Ethical Hacker Elliot Alderson also raised concerns about the privacy of the Koo app. He practically showed how data is being leaked. He is the same hacker who pointed out the privacy concerns of the Aarogya Setu app.
Koo app has welcomed more than 1 crore users since its launch in March 2020.
