[Funding alert] Short video app Chingari raises $15M in Series A extension round

Bengaluru-based short-video app Chingari on Monday announced the closing of $15 million in Series A extension round. 

In an official statement, the startup said the funds will be used to enhance and integrate new in-app features, strengthen the backend technology team, as well as boost its marketing initiatives for 2022. Republic Capital led the financing with participation from Onmobile, JPIN Venture Catalysts, Hill Harbour, Angellist, Venture Collective, Makan Family, Cowa Ventures, MVC Friends, Protocol Labs and other HNI family offices.

Sumit Ghosh, Co-founder and CEO, Chingari said, 

“Chingari is leading the Indian market in the short-video platforms category. This new funding will further strengthen our position and help us deliver an immersive user experience for our community. It is very encouraging to have reputed new names backing us in the market, while our existing investors have also offered to increase their investments and help us reach newer heights.”

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“With the exponential growth in users over the last two years, we believe that Chingari has the potential to become a household name in India, and we are concentrating our technology and marketing efforts into achieving this goal”, added Sumit.

With an aim to fast-track its business expansion this year, Chingari will use the major part of the investment to enhance the technology on the app, launch new features and augment the backend tech team by appointing the finest talent across AI and ML with an aim to further enrich its user experience. Another important area for the company of focus is to increase marketing initiatives to strengthen the brand’s reach further into the roots of Bharat by making it a favourite among the Tier III and IV audiences too.

With new technological advancements, the app is planning to soon launch its live-streaming, socio-commerce and audio chat features, which will help creators to boost their engagement rates with the viewers and also open the gates for top brands and companies to collaborate with the app and its creators, leading to the next big phase of creator economy.

Further to  this development, Chingari’s $GARI is all set to make its debut by getting listed on six global exchange platforms, FTX, Huobi, Kucoin, OKEX, Gate.IO, and MEXC Global.  

Recently, chingari has launched $GARI, a crypto-token in the presence of its brand ambassador Salman Khan. $Gari aims to make content monetization more mainstream in India. 

With over 110+ million downloads of the app, Chingari claims to have witnessed a two-fold increase in its number of users since April 2021. With 35+ million monthly active users (MAUs) currently, the app is now looking at various ways to increase user engagement on the platform from across India. It is looking at further growing its user base to 200+ million by the end of 2022. 

Given the surge in demand for regional content in India, Chingari said it also plans to increase the local content portfolio by deploying 20+ languages on the platform. The marketing initiatives of the app will focus on promoting the brand and attracting innovative and talented creators from the remotest corners of the country, that will generate engaging content for the viewers in their local languages.