Shunwei Capital leads $100 Mn fresh round in ShareChat

Vernacular social networking app ShareChat has closed one the largest funding round of about $100 million ($99.23 million) ever raised by any local language-focused content startup in India.

Existing investor of the Bengaluru-based startup Shunwei Capital has led the round and infused about $32.5 million, while Hong Kong-based Morningside Ventures invested about $25 million, reports VCCircle via RoC filing.

Xiaomi, which earlier led Series B round in ShareChat has also contributed $16.83 million. Lightspeed Partners ($15.2 million) and SAIF Partners, Venture Highway, and others have put in the remaining capital.

The fresh funding looks like a Series C round for the company and its post-money valuation expected to be around $458 million, a quantum leap from the earlier valuation of about $67 million during Series B round.

Entrackr has sent an email to ShareChat for confirmation. We will update the post as response comes in.

Started as a content repository app for sharing on WhatsApp, ShareChat has now evolved into a full-fledged social network.

With over 6 million daily active users and 15 million of monthly active users, it also allows users to create, discover and share content such as videos, jokes, audio songs, and images along with other genres.

Now the three-year-old startup is sitting on a pile of $124 million funding. Earlier in November 2016, it had raised $4 million in a Series-A round led by Lightspeed India Partners, along with existing investors SAIF Partners and India Quotient.

The lead investor Shunwei has been aggressively looking to tap Indian market especially in vernacular and lending space. The development will boost up the confidence in startups working in this segment.

Of late, a slew of startups focused on vernacular content space, such as DailyHunt, ShareChat, MyUpchar, Vokal and NewsDog have also raised funds.