Microblogging platform Koo raises Series B led by Tiger Global

Homegrown microblogging platform Koo has raised $30 million (about Rs 218.04 crore) in a Series B funding round led by global alternative investments firm Tiger Global Management. South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset Management and IIFL joined the round as new investors.  

Early stage investors Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream incubator were returning investors in the round.  

Tiger Global’s bet on Koo comes at a time when the latter’s global rival Twitter, among other social media platforms, are at odds with the Indian government on non-compliance with the new rules for intermediaries. The deadline for compliance was May 25 and the global platforms have sought an extension.  

Tiger Global is also an investor in Indian language social media platform Sharechat and its subsidiary, short video app Moj. 

Koo, the company said in a statement, will use the capital raised in this round to develop its product, engineering and community efforts across languages.

Read: Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka’s quest to get the ‘best of India to talk to the rest of India’ 

Koo parent Bombinate Technologies last raised $4.1 million in a Series A round in February, led by 3one4 Capital. The deal created exit for early investor Shunwei Capital. The Beijing headquartered seed-to-growth stage technology investor had led a $5 million round in Koo’s parent company in July 2018. 

Bombinate Technologies also operates vernacular language knowledge sharing platform Vokal. Co-founded by former Taxiforsure cofounder Aprameya Radhakrishna and former redBus marketing head Mayank Bidawatka, Koo, launched last year, claims six million downloads. It user based includes personalities such as actors Anupam Kher and Kangana Ranaut, and union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani. 

“We have aggressive plans to grow into one of the world’s largest social media platforms in the next few years. Every Indian is cheering for us to get there soon. Tiger Global is the right partner to have on board to realize this dream,” Radhakrishna said. 

The platform currently facilitates five Indian languages apart from Hindi and English.