ShareChat goes shopping for top talent

When ShareChat launched its app in 2015, social media platforms were evolving into the beasts we know today. Facebook’s billion-dollar acquisition of Instagram some three years prior was indicative of this, signalling a shift to a more visual experience driven by photos and video. 

It was against this backdrop that ShareChat entered the market, promising to build a photo-first social media platform for Indians, and in their language. It was among the first wave of companies that adopted the ‘building for Bharat’ narrative, offering potential advertisers a chance to reach India’s larger, non-English audience.

Much has changed since ShareChat’s inception. Photos are out, short video is in. India’s ban on TikTok in 2020 prompted everyone—including ShareChat—to launch short video clones to fill the void the ByteDance-owned platform left behind.

Today, ShareChat’s Moj is among the top claimants to the short video throne but lags behind Instagram’s Reels in terms of ad revenue and popularity among users and advertisers. As we previously reported, ShareChat has approximately 58 million monthly active users and Moj has 58 million MAUs; Instagram has over 200m MAUs in India. In May this year, ShareChat upped the ante by acquiring short video rival MX TakaTak from Times Internet for $700 million. 

Now, seven years since its launch, ShareChat is valued at $5 billion. This comes after it closed a $520 million funding round in June from existing and new investors, including Google and Times Internet.