Homegrown Video Apps riding the Vocal for Local wave

Swadeshi was the movement during India’s fight for Independence that sought to create pride for indigenous products and boycott British goods and led to the development of Indian nationalism. Seventy-three years after India’s Independence, there is a move towards striving for an ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call during the pandemic period, as led to a resurgence of homegrown brands.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the Government has been encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship with its Start-up India initiative. Now, with the ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ movement has come the call for ‘Vocal for Local, made by Modi, on May 12, 2020. Start-ups have come up across sectors and are growing at a larger scale with the AtmaNirbhar Bharat movement.

Also read:  Clarion call to vocal for local companies

Some time back, Adgully had called for brands that went Vocal for Local in the recent past; one of the categories that has seen great traction is short videos apps.

Following the ban on TikTok and several other Chinese apps in India, a lot of homegrown short videos apps have come into prominence – including, Mitron, Bolo Idya, ShareChat, Roposo, Trell, and Chingari, among others. We take a look at these apps.

Chingari

Founder: Sumit Ghosh

Chingari was launched in Google Play Store in November 2018. Chingari App – India ka apna app is a short video sharing platform owned by Tech4Billion Media. Available in over 10 regional languages in India, Chingari’s downloads crossed over 25 million on July 21, 2020.

The mobile application has become India's #1 Social Networking App and the most popular short video sharing application by August 2020. It has emerged as India Ka Apna Naya TV in multiple cities and locations, including Tier 1 cities of India such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and large parts of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Bolo Indya

Founder: Varun Saxena

After ban on TikTok in India, homegrown app Bolo Indya onboarded over 2M+ follower base of content creators from TikTok. These creators joined organically and through content creators’ referral networks. 

Trell

Founder: Pulkit Agrawal

Trell, a homegrown lifestyle blogging platform that allows users to create videos in their native languages, witnessed a huge spike in user base with 5 million new content creators from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. The platform has grown 10X since the ban on Chinese apps, with a total user base of 75 million+.

Mitron

Founder: Anish Khandelwal and Shivank Agarwal

Mitron allows users to create, view, upload, and share short videos. The app has over 39 million downloads on Google Play Store and claims to have over nine billion video views per month. Just a month after raising Rs 2 crore in a seed round, homegrown short-form video app Mitron raised another $5 million in August as part of its Series A round from Nexus Venture Partners. Existing investors 3one4 Capital and ArunTadanki’s private syndicate LetsVenture, and other notable angels also participated in the round.

MOJ

Developed by: Sharechat

Moj is the short video platform from ShareChat that was launched just after tiktok was banned. Within 3 months, the platform has clocked over 80 million monthly active users and has onboard many former TikTok influencers like Junaid Malik, Abraz Khan, Beauty Khan, etc. The platform is going aggressive to catch the eyeballs of its creators and brands

Kiko TV

Developed by: Smooth Tag Technologies

KIKO TV is an interactive entertainment video-based app that allows users to view, like, share videos, and earn currency to shop within the app, while seamlessly enjoying their content. It also allows users to become influencers and live stream on the app by adding brands to sell instantly. This Made in India App also has intresting features, wherein it allows users to shop while browsing the videos and has in-app games for users to earn loyalty points, which they can redeem for in-app shopping.

Roposo

Founder: Mayank Bhangadia

Roposo is a short format from Glance, owned by internet major Inmobi. It has about 55 million monthly active users catering to 14 regional languages. They have recently rolled out monetisation, and exploring possibilities to engage with brand outreach in the short video space. It has been one of the biggest endorsers of the Indian app ecosystem, and has been vocal about it even before Indian government put a ban on 59 Chinese apps including TikTok.

We at Adgully support this movement wholeheartedly, and are compiling an exhaustive repository of all local/ homegrown businesses, brands and Apps. This compilation will serve as a one-stop ready industry reckoner for businesses – domestic and global – looking for information on Indian brands and Apps.

We are reaching out to you to share the details of homegrown/ local brands or Apps by your company. Kindly mail us at:

nehal@adgully.com

Pritee@adgully.com

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