Koo raises USD 30 mn in funding led by Tiger Global

Twitter-rival Koo has raised USD 30 million (about Rs 218 crore) in a funding round led by Tiger Global, according to a statement.

Existing investors Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator also took part in the latest funding round, Koo said in a statement.

IIFL and Mirae Assets are other new investors who have come on board the cap table with this round.

Notably, the fundraising comes at a time when the new IT intermediary rules are taking effect, making large digital platforms including Twitter and Facebook more accountable and responsible for the content hosted by them.

Homegrown microblogging platform Koo has close to 60 lakh users, making it a major social media intermediary under the new guidelines. Last week, Koo said it has complied with the requirements of the new rules and its privacy policy, terms of use and community guidelines now reflect the changes.

"Koo, India''s own microblogging app, has raised USD 30 million in Series B funding," it said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that Tiger Global led the investment round.

The funds from the latest round would be used mainly to strengthen engineering, product and community efforts across all Indian languages at Koo.

Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-Founder and CEO of Koo said, "We have aggressive plans to grow into one of the world''s largest social media platforms in the next few years. Every Indian is cheering for us to get there soon".

Tiger Global is the right partner to have on board to realise this dream, Radhakrishna added.

Koo was founded by serial entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder of TaxiForSure and Mayank Bidawatka, who previously founded companies like MediaAnt and Goodbox. In February, Koo said it had raised USD 4.1 million in Series A funding round from Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator, and 3one4 Capital.

Koo''s popularity peaked amid clarion calls for expanding the ecosystem of homegrown digital platforms.

Koo has seen a massive growth in its user base over the past few months after union ministers and government departments endorsed the homegrown microblogging platform, following a spat with Twitter.

India is the world''s second-largest telecom market and the biggest consumer of data. India, with its large population base and burgeoning internet adoption, is among the biggest markets for social media giants.

Large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp would now be required to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer, under new IT rules.

Non-compliance with the new rules would result in significant social media companies losing their intermediary status that provides them exemptions and certain immunity from liabilities for any third-party information and data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action, in case of complaints.