Indian entrepreneurs back Koo app even as Chinese investor exits
Ashish Hemrajani of BookMyShow, Vivekananda Hallekere of Bounce and Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath have come on board the social community that’s positioning itself as an area different to Twitter and Facebook Inc. amid their troubles with the Indian authorities.
Interestingly, Koo’s co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna distanced the corporate from Chinese investor Shunwei Capital, saying that they’d invested greater than two years in the past when it was constructing its first product Vokal, and that the investor can be exiting absolutely, with different buyers shopping for out their stake.
“Koo is an India registered company with Indian founders,” Radhakrishna mentioned in a tweet on Wednesday. “Latest funds for Bombinate Technologies is led by a truly Indian investor 3one4 Capital. Shunwei (single digit shareholder) which had invested in our Vokal journey will be exiting fully.”
Koo is on an overdrive to model itself as a “truly Indian” and “Atmanirbhar App” after a number of politicians, authorities ministries, celebrities and sports activities personalities, flocked to the platform in what’s seen as an indication of protest in opposition to Twitter, after the US firm bought right into a tussle with the Indian authorities over discourse surrounding the continuing farmer protests in New Delhi.
Radhakrishnan when contacted by The Economic Times mentioned that the funding from the entrepreneurs is along with the $4.1 million the corporate not too long ago raised, with a number of the capital going in the direction of shopping for out the stake of some present buyers. He added that the method of eradicating Shunwei from the corporate’s captable was nonetheless in progress.
3one4 Capital, which is main the Koo funding spherical, counts Siddharth Pai and Pranav Pai — sons of former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai — as its founding companions. Other buyers within the mum or dad firm of Koo embody Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, and Dream Incubator.
