Microblogging app Koo has raised $4.1 million in Series A funding round. Existing investors Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator, participated in the round with new investor 3one4 Capital.
The startup will utilise the fresh funding for marketing, expanding technical capabilities, and hiring. The company employs 45 people and plans to add 15 people this year.
Founded in 2020 by Mayank Bidawatka and Aprameya Radhakrishna a, Koo allows users to connect, comment, and engage in 13 local languages – like a Twitter for Indian languages. Aprameya Radhakrishna also co-founded cab aggregator TaxiForSure, which was sold to Ola for $200 million in 2015.
Within 10 months of launch, the app has garnered close to 3 million downloads on Android and iOS, and has 1 million active users, the company said.
“Existing microblogging platforms have not been able to grow beyond the English-speaking population. Koo enables free expression of thoughts and opinions for every Indian irrespective of the language preference. Koo will amplify the daily voices of India on an Indian platform, said chief executive Radhakrishna.
Anurag Ramdasan, Principal at 3one4 Capital, said: “Koo is a very valuable and powerful platform in the Indian context. Social platforms focused on India need to be highly contextualised to the audience here beyond languages and must include community, moderation and content relevance.”
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