Social media platform Sharechat's parent firm Mohalla Tech is in advanced stage discussions with Google, Temasek and other investors to close a $300 million funding round at a valuation of $5 billion, a source aware of the development said on Tuesday.
The deal is expected to close in June.
“Mohalla Tech is in an advanced stage of discussion with Google, existing investor Temasek and other investors to close a $300 million funding round. The transaction is expected to value Sharechat at around $5 billion,” the source said.
When contacted, Google and Temasek declined to offer any comment on the matter, terming it speculative information.
“As a matter of policy, Temasek does not comment on market speculation and rumours,” a Temasek spokesperson said.
The email query sent to Mohalla Tech did not elicit any reply.
Mohalla Tech had raised $266 million in December 2021 at a valuation of $3.7 billion.
The company's short-video platform Sharechat claims to have an active user base of around 180 million.
In February, the company merged Times Group's short video platform MX Takatak with its Moj platform, claiming that Moj and MX TakaTak will create the largest short-video platform for Indians, whereby the combined platform will have 100 million creators, over 300 million monthly active users (MAU), and nearly 250 billion monthly video views.
The business of Sharchat, Moj, Chingari and other short-video platforms zoomed after the government banned Chinese competitors like Tiktok and Helo.