The social media unicorn Sharechat is closing a $16 million fundraise, which is an extension of its convertible debt round in which it has already raised $49 million from Tencent and existing investors such as Lightspeed.

It was to accommodate new investment from EDBI, a leading Singapore based global investor. These additional funds will be utilized to invest further in the company’s advertising tech stack and expand the consumer transactions businesses with investment in newer monetization features for the creator ecosystem.

In April this year, ShareChat raised $49 million via convertible debentures in the funding round led by existing investors Lightspeed, Temasek, Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures and HarbourVest, amongst others.

Sources close to the development said, “The fact that ShareChat could attract new investment from a sovereign fund like EDBI is a significant positive sign. Attracting new investors of this calibre in today’s cautious private investment environment reflects that the market is taking note of the company’s progress towards building a profitable business.”

Over the past year and a half, Sharechat has fired about 850 people in successive rounds of cost cutting. The two of the company’s co-founders had quit amid a broader hollowing out of its senior management cadre. Later, the co-founder duo raised $3 million in funding for their robotics startup.

At present, the company is helmed by co-founder and chief executive officer Ankush Sachdeva.

Founded in 2015 by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Singh, and Farid Ahsan, ShareChat is an indigenous social media platform which claims to have 325 million monthly active users across all its platforms.

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