Home-grown microblogging platform Koo’s parent company is set to see a complete exit of Chinese investor Shunwei Capital, with co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna telling CNBC-TV18 that the app will be completely ‘Atmanirbhar’.

Shunwei Capital had invested in Bombinate Technologies, the company which runs Koo and vernacular Q&A platform Vokal, in 2018.

“Shunwei had invested in the earlier brand Vokal. We have pivoted our business and focused on Koo, they are on their way out. They are being bought out by other people. We are a truly Atmanirbhar Bharat app,” Radhakrishna said.

“Shunwei Capital is a very small stakeholder in the company right now which will get bought out. They are in the process of exiting,” he added.

The Koo CEO took to Twitter to state that Shunwei holds a single-digit stake in the company.

"Koo is an India registered company with Indian founders. Raised earlier capital 2.5 years ago. Latest funds for Bombinate Technologies is led by a truly Indian investor 3one4 capital. Shunwei (single-digit shareholder) which had invested in our Vokal journey will be exiting fully," he tweeted after his conversation on CNBC-TV18.

Koo is an India registered company with Indian founders. Raised earlier capital 2.5 years ago. Latest funds for Bombinate Technologies is led by a truly Indian investor 3one4 capital. Shunwei (single digit shareholder) which had invested in our Vokal journey will be exiting fully

— Aprameya R (@aprameya) February 10, 2021

As per Tracxn, as of March 31, 2019, Shunwei Capital held 11.1 percent stake in the company.

Last week, the company announced it has raised $4.1 MN in from the likes of Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and 3one4 Capital.

Koo has emerged as the poster boy of ‘Atmanirbhar’ and ‘Made in India’ apps, with several Indian government officials such as Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Ravi Shankar Prasad setting up accounts on the platform in the midst of the government’s standoff with Twitter.

Koo was also among the winners of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge last year meant to promote ‘Made-In India’ apps.

The microblogging app has seen a sharp spike in downloads over the past few weeks, garnering 1.2 million downloads since January this year, which is nearly half of the 3 MN downloads that the app has seen so far since the launch in March 2020.

“We have been building the platform since November 201, and want to bring every voice form India on the platform. Foreign apps only cater to English-speaking users,” Radhakrishna said.

“We have seen a great surge in the past few days because of adoption from various personalities. Before that we were building our own product,” Radhakrishna said.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted on Tuesday that he would join Koo, and was followed by others, including chief ministers of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, and actor Kangana Ranaut.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Feb 10, 2021 8:07 PM IST