The investment was led by Alkeon Capital with participation from new and existing investors including Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), Harbourvest and India Quotient. This is the third round of funding for the startup in 2021.
Mohalla Tech said the latest round of funding will help build deep capabilities on priority areas such as social and live commerce, growing its AI/ML team which is now over 100 people strong and spread across the US, Europe and India.
“Moj and ShareChat have been growing at an explosive pace. Both our products have been leading the market with the highest monthly active user base, a very active creator set and amazing new partnerships to delight our community. This fresh funding will further strengthen our position and help us deliver immersive social experiences to our community,” said Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and cofounder, Moj and ShareChat.
The Bengaluru-based social media firm counts Tiger Global, Snap, Twitter and Lightspeed Ventures among its investors. Founded in 2015, Mohalla Tech has now raised over $1.177 billion across eight fundraising rounds with $913 million raised this year itself.
Since January this year, the company has grown to over 2000 employees and added several new features as it focuses on building its products. With social and live commerce initiatives, the company hopes to reach a target of $100 million annualised creator earnings by the end of 2023.
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“It is heartening to add reputed names like Alkeon Capital and others to our cap-table while existing investors have also chosen to increase their investments in us at our new valuation,” said Sachdeva.
Mohalla Tech claimed its short video app Moj has the highest monthly active users base, with an average user time spent of 34 minutes every day, scoring over 4.5 billion views daily, while its social media platform ShareChat’s average user time spent is at 31 minutes daily.
“In one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic internet markets in the world – with an estimated 600M+ (mostly mobile) internet users – Sharechat is already entrenched as the largest and most engaging social and digital media platform,” said Deepak Ravichandran, General Partner at Alkeon Capital.
