CSP DAO

Dec 22, 2022

Chingari, one of India’s leading short-videos sharing platforms with over 78 Million downloads, successfully completed a funding round that raised over $19 Million for its token round across more than 30 venture funds and individual investors. Some of the biggest firms in crypto investment participated in the funding round, including Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Kraken, Blackpine, NGC, Coinfund, LD Capital, Borderless Capital, AU21, Cultur3 Capital, Long Term Ventures, Afton Capital, CSP DAO, among others. Since its redesign in June 2020, many new apps such as Chingari, Roposo and Trell worked to fill the vacuum created by TikTok’s ban in India. Ever since, the number of Chingari users have increased exponentially, surpassing milestones of 100k, 1M, 10M and then 50M - all in just six months. Spurring its growth is the creator-centric model, attracting top talent and generating intriguing content for its nearly 80 Million users. The platform won the ‘App Innovation Challenge’ by the Government of India, was mentioned by name in a speech given by the Prime Minister, and has the best metrics for India social media for Engagement Time, Video Watched, DAUs, and MAUs (daily and monthly active users). The venture firms participating were enthusiastic about the roadmap of Chingari, the app’s meteoric rise in popularity in 2021, as well as the $GARI token developments made to date. Investors were especially excited about how Chingari is creating a mainstream use case for crypto in India. The tokens are powered by Solana’s high performance blockchain — making for the first major web2 company integrating web3 into its product. Andrew Durgee, Managing Partner at Republic Capital, stated: “At Republic, we believe social tokens are an essential piece of the crypto community and creator economy. Chingari shares this vision and has taken innovative steps to bring that vision to life. Their creators and users will now be able to more truly monetize their own engagements and experiences.” Sumit Ghosh, CEO & Co- Founder of Chingari, said in response to the successful funding round: “The future of a platform lies in its creators. On one side, we have an immense talent pool that needs to be explored, and rewarded with an ethical amount of monetization. On the other side, while Crypto experiences a rapid expansion in India, $GARI is poised to make it mainstream. We are infusing the two, through robust strategies and incorporation of the most-promising industry advances.”  He added, “The result of this infusion is Social Tokens as the future of community platforms for Creator Monetization. It is reaching new milestones as we speak.”  “Collective ownership of social platforms like Chingari has the potential to upend the creator-platform relationship and unlock new monetization models for creators” said Raj Gokal, COO of Solana Labs. “The Solana blockchain’s high throughput, low transaction fees, and fast finality make it a great foundation for platforms targeting global adoption.”  With the funds raised, key features will continue development for the Chingari platform. Near-term roadmap milestones include testing of the blockchain live, Chingari Integration beta, and the upcoming $GARI token sale. The token is a critical piece of the platform, enabling creators to set up their own ecommerce space that includes physical merchandise, their NFT creations, and the ability for fans to fund their favorite artists. Token owners will also help guide the future of the platform. This round of funding is an important and positive step towards realizing Chingari’s vision as a global leader in blockchain-based Social Infotainment. Share this article: