Social media platform Sharechat's parent firm Mohalla Tech is in advanced stage discussion with Google, Temasek and other investors to close a $300 million funding round at a valuation of $5 billion, a source aware of the development said on Tuesday. The deal is expected to close in June.
"Mohalla Tech is in an advanced stage of discussion with Google, existing investor Temasek and other investors to close a $300 million funding round. The transaction is expected to value Sharechat at around $5 billion," the source said.
When contacted, Google and Temasek declined to offer any comment on the matter, terming it speculative information. "As a matter of policy, Temasek does not comment on market speculation and rumours," a Temasek spokesperson said.
The email query sent to Mohalla Tech did not elicit any reply.
Mohalla Tech had raised $266 million in December 2021 at a valuation of $3.7 billion.
The company's short video platform claims to have around 18 crore monthly active user-base.
In February, the company merged Times Group short video platform MX Takatak with its Moj platform claiming that Moj and MX TakaTak will create the largest short video platform for Indians, whereby the combined platform will have 10 crore creators, over 30 crore monthly active users (MAU), and nearly 25,000 crore monthly video views.
The business of Sharchat, Moj, Chingari and other short video platforms zoomed after the government banned their Chinese competitor Tiktok, Helo, etc.