Snap | Business Upturn

Snapchat launches My AI chatbot in India after crossing 200 million monthly active users

Avinash Ram — Wed, 24 May 2023 17:54:15 +0000

According to parent company Snap on Tuesday, the visual messaging app Snapchat now has 200 million monthly active users in India, 120 million of whom view content.

On the occasion, the business unveiled the introduction of My AI, an experimental AI-powered chatbot designed for Snapchat that can provide birthday present suggestions, long-weekend getaway plans, and even supper meal ideas.

According to a statement by Snap, “Snapchat reaches over 200 million monthly active users in India.”90 percent of the 750 million monthly active users of the visual messaging app are between the ages of 18 and 24.

“I’m excited to be a part of Snap at a time when our Indian community is gaining more and more momentum. We are very enthusiastic about the future because we see so much tremendous potential for partners, creators, and brands to use Snapchat to develop communities and companies.

Snap’s APAC President, Ajit Mohan, stated that “Young India has particularly valued the healthy and private environment that has been at the heart of our experiences” and that this would be our priority moving ahead.

More than 120 million Indian Snapchat users are currently enjoying content on the app, including stories, spotlight (user-generated content), and partnered content, according to Snap. According to internal business data, over 50 billion AR Lenses are played with each month by Snapchat users in India, and over 85% of Snapchat users utilise Lenses to express themselves visually throughout the country’s holiday seasons.

In order to create a local e-commerce ecosystem in India on top of its augmented reality-enabled app, the business has begun collaborating with Indian merchants.

According to a statement, “Snap is strengthening its team and enhancing its operations with hires across a variety of roles to better serve the Indian Snapchatting community as the Snapchat community continues to grow.”

ShareChat to raise $300 million in a funding round to be lead by Google

Devanshu Singla — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 08:26:56 +0000

Amid the increasing demand for home-grown social networks and micro-blogging platforms, homegrown social network ShareChat is in the final stages of talks to raise as much as $300 million in new funding from Google and others after which it may value more than $1 billion.

This won’t be an acquisition by Google but it will lead the investment, along with Snap Inc and other new investors. Twitter is also an existing investor in ShareChat.

“A couple of other big names are joining the round apart from Google and Snap,” a person aware of the matter said.

An announcement in this regard could come later this month. The Bengaluru-based firm was last valued under $700 million. It has raised over $260 million in the capital so far from venture capital firms like India Quotient, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital among its investors. These investors too are likely to join the new funding round.

A spokesperson of ShareChat declined to make any comment.

Launched in 2015, ShareChat caters to non-metro users in 15 languages. The company says it has about 160 million monthly active users. Industry sources have said the interest from large strategic investors in ShareChat comes on the back of its user base beyond metros, where other social networking platforms haven’t been able to expand yet.

Since the TikTok ban, Sharechat has also expanded into the short-video space with Moj, where it competes with MX Takatak, which is owned by Times Internet, an arm of BCCL, which publishes this newspaper.

Google, Snap to invest in Indian start-up ShareChat

Ruchira Sonawat — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 06:15:41 +0000

Indian social media startup ShareChat to get investments from American tech giants Google and Snap. The Bangalore-based social networking app added Twitter as an investor in 2019.

According to a TechCrunch report, ShareChat will host a Series E financing round seeking over $200 million from Google, Snapchat, as well as its existing investors. Google alone will invest over $100 million in the Indian social media app.

Post the Series E round, ShareChat’s valuation will be more than $1 billion. The company has, so far, raised more than $264 million at a valuation of $700 million. The report further states that the terms of the deal could change and the terms may not even materialise in an investment.

Google has been investing heavily in India and plans to invest a total of $10 billion. Whereas, it will be Snap’s first investment in an Indian startup if the deal is signed.

ShareChat has seen a significant rise in its active user base and has more than 80 million monthly active users after the government banned several Chinese apps in India last year. The app’s active monthly users crossed the 160 million mark and it serves 15 Indian language markets. It also owns a short-video app called Moj, which is an Indian alternative to the banned TikTok.