Dec 22, 2022

Short-video platform Chingari on Monday said it has raised USD 15 million (about Rs 111.4 crore) in funding led by Republic Capital. The extended Series A round also saw participation from Onmobile, JPIN Venture Catalysts, Hill Harbour, Angellist, Venture Collective, Makan Family, Cowa Ventures, MVC Friends, Protocol Labs and other HNI family offices, a statement said. The app will invest this new round of funds to enhance and integrate new in-app features, strengthen the backend technology team, as well as boost its marketing initiatives for 2022, it added Chingari had raised USD 19 million in crypto tokens from venture funds and individuals, including RepublicCrypto, Solana Capital and Kraken, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange in October last year. In April last year, Chingari had raised USD 13 million in a pre-Series A round led by OnMobile Global. Major part of the fresh investment will be utilised to enhance the technology on the app, launch new features and augment the backend tech team by appointing the finest talent across artificial intelligence and machine learning with an aim to further enrich Chingari’s user experience, it said. Another important area of focus is to increase marketing initiatives to strengthen the brand’s reach further into the roots of Bharat by making it a favourite among the tier III and IV audiences too, it added. The app is planning to soon launch its Live-streaming, Socio-commerce and Audio chat features, which will help creators to boost their engagement rates with the viewers and also open the gates for top brands and companies to collaborate with the app and its creators, leading to the next big phase of creator economy, it said. Chingari’s $GARI (crypto token) is also set to  make a debut by getting listed on six global exchange platforms – FTX, Huobi, Kucoin, OKEX, Gate.IO, MEXC Global. “This new funding will further strengthen our position and help us deliver an immersive user experience for our community. It is very encouraging to have reputed new names backing us in the market, while our existing investors have also offered to increase their investments and help us reach newer heights,” Chingari co-founder and CEO Sumit Ghosh said. He added that with exponential growth in users over the last two years, the company believes it has the potential to become a household name in India, and is concentrating its technology and marketing efforts into achieving this goal. With over 35 million monthly active users (MAUs) currently, the company is looking at further growing its user base to more than 200 million by the end of 2022. Given the surge in demand for regional content in India, Chingari also plans to increase the local content portfolio by deploying more than 20 languages on the platform. (PTI)