Founded in 2015, Sharechat is considered to be India’s “fastest-growing social media platform in local languages.” It currently reportedly has 60 million monthly users across 15 regional languages, according to TechCrunch.The round is notable in that it gives Twitter a foothold in one of the world’s largest countries and marks its first significant commitment to another region outside the U.S. Founder and CEO Jack Dorsey had firsthand involvement in securing the financing. By investing in Sharechat, Twitter will have the ability to “go deeper into India’s smaller towns at a time when its user growth has plateaued.”
TrustBridge Partners, Shunwei Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SAIF Capital, India Quotient and Morningside Venture Capital, also participated in the financing. With this round, Bangalore-based Sharechat has raised a total of $222.8 million, according to Crunchbase data. It last raised a $99.2 million Series C in September 2018 led by China’s Shunwei Capital. While Twitter has acquired dozens of companies, it’s only invested in three, including Sharechat. This round marks its first time leading an investment.
