Chingari raises $19 Mn in a new round

Update: Chingari has just confirmed that it has raised $19 million in a token round.

Short video entertainment app Chingari is all set to raise $18-20 million in a new round from new and existing investors, said two people aware of the development. This is the second round of funding for the Bengaluru-based startup which picked up $13 million in Series A in April this year.

“Over two dozen investors are going to participate in a fresh $20 million at a valuation of $100-110 million,” said one of the sources on the condition of anonymity.

“Republic Capital, MVC Friends, Galaxy Digital, Solana Capital, Valor Equity Partners and Kraken are set to invest in this round,” the person added.

After losing initial momentum to short video sharing app giants such as MX TakaTak, Dailyhunt’s Josh and ShareChat’s Moj, Chingari seems to have bounced back with an almost 4X jump in downloads in the past six months.

Chingari saw a steep fall in download numbers from October 2020 to March 2021 in which it recorded just 4.2 million downloads, data sourced from Sensor Tower shows. However, it managed to garner 16 million downloads in the next six months i.e. April to September. 

The app has so far amassed 35 million downloads via Google Play Store.

According to sources, Chingari will utilize the proceeds to launch crypto-based offerings and ramp up its reach in the core business. This can also be noticed from the background of lead investors in the potential round.

Republic Crypto allows startups to fundraise and finance their coin offerings from pre-sale to launch whereas Solana is a crypto platform which is backed by Andreessen Horowitz aka a16z who recently made his first investment in India in CoinSwitch Kuber.

Entrackr couldn’t verify the company’s crypto plans independently. Queries sent to Republic Crypto and Solana have not elicited a response yet. Chingari declined to comment on the story.

The Sumit Ghosh-led company, which started off as a short-form video app, now also provides social video commerce through its Chingari Multiplex offerings. It’s also planning to introduce gaming within the app through its strategic partnership with OnMobile.

Besides VC firms such as Republic Labs US, Astarc Ventures, White Star Capital and Blume Ventures, Chingari has also raised funds from individuals like Rajat Sharma, Raghunandan G and Bollywood star Salman Khan.

In the short video sharing space, MX TakaTak, Moj and Josh are market leaders followed by Trell, Roposo, Chingari and Mitron TV. Like Chingari, Trell also forayed into social commerce space. The Pulkit Agarwal-led company recently raised $45 million at a $120 million valuation.