ShareChat raises US$49 million via convertible debentures from existing investors

 ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd), India’s largest homegrown social media company, today announced the closure of its US$49 million funding round via convertible debentures led by existing investors Lightspeed, Temasek, Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures and HarbourVest, amongst others. This capital raise will help the company invest further behind its Ad targeting technology as well as continuing the growth of consumer transactions business on ShareChat Live and Moj Live. The ShareChat app is already operationally profitable, and the short video app Moj is expected to achieve operational profitability over the next few months.

As the company marches towards profitability, it announced an organization wide ESOP bonus program that will double the ESOP ownership for all of its current employees. This move is aimed at retaining its top talent and rewarding them for taking the company to a financially healthier state.

Commenting on the latest funding round, Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Cofounder, ShareChat and Moj said, “We are happy to announce the closing of our latest funding round by our existing investors. Their continued support in a challenging financial environment is a resounding vote of confidence for the path we have taken over the past years to move rapidly towards profitable growth. The new funds will be utilized to bolster our robust monetisation plans and propel us on our path to break-even and beyond.”

Talking about the expanded ESOPs he further added, “Our employees were the single most important force powering 2x revenue growth and 90% reduction in our monthly losses over the past two years. We wanted to recognize their efforts and incentivize our teams to continue this momentum and push the company to profitability in the next 4-5 quarters and then to IPO. We are excited to announce a special bonus grant that will double the total ESOP grant for every employee. We are setting aside an ESOP pool equal to3.5% of the cap table to be disbursed as bonus grants.”

ShareChat (Mohalla Tech) runs India’s largest short video platform, Moj besides the ShareChat app, which together cater to over 325 million users. ShareChat has democratized social media in India by offering content in over 15 Indian languages. The company has in the past year, focused on rapidly monetizing its various platforms and seen its revenue surge. It has built diversified monetization avenues beyond advertising in areas like virtual gifting. And today it is the market leader in virtual gifting by a big margin.