ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd), a homegrown social media company, announced the closure of its $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 in its ad targeting technology as well as continue the growth of its 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 per a company statement.
The company also announced an organisation 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.
Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and cofounder of ShareChat and Moj, said, “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 a 90 per cent reduction in our monthly losses over the past two years. We wanted to recognise 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 an IPO."
ShareChat (Mohalla Tech) runs a short video platform, Moj, besides the ShareChat app, which together caters to over 325 million users. ShareChat offers content in over 15 Indian languages. The company has built diversified monetisation avenues beyond advertising in areas like virtual gifting.
