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Media startup Dailyhunt is in advanced stages of talks to acquire Bengaluru-based social media network Koo, two sources familiar with the matter told me.
The sources, who requested anonymity because the matter is private, added that the potential deal under discussion includes a stock swap agreement and could be finalized within weeks.
These deliberations come on the heels of Koo, who has sought to become a competitor to Twitter, as it has been aggressively searching for new capital throughout the past year. The social network, which is available in India and Brazil, is betting on the idea that its approach of supporting multiple local languages will help the app that bears its name spread widely to larger audiences.
Koo co-founder Mayank Bidwatka said in September that the startup — which has raised more than $60 million from investors including Tiger Global, Accel, 3One4 Capital, Mirae Asset and Blume — was looking to find a strategic partner with “distribution strength.” For her company. The “next stage” of the journey.
“From rapid growth to degrowth and proving unit economics, within 6 months of revenue experimentation we have taken a 180 degree turn and proven this is a real business,” he wrote.
Dailyhunt, which was recently valued at $5 billion, and Ko declined to comment.
VerSe Innovation, the parent company of Dailyhunt, reaches over 300 million users in India through its news aggregation platform and short video app Josh. It raised an $805 million funding round in April 2022 from investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Sofina Group, and Baillie Gifford.
After publishing this story, Koo’s Bidawatka wrote in a LinkedIn post:
Over the past few months, we’ve spoken with several partners who can help us achieve this.
Our responsibility to a broader community of stakeholders (users, creators, VIPs, investors, policy makers, media) compels us not to share anything prematurely when we would like to say more. I ask for your patience so that we can share more concrete details about this partnership that will help Koo take wings in an organic way and help challenge global competitors in a meaningful way.
Indian digital products are manufactured as per international standards and it is time to create global brands from India. As everyone knows, the global startup ecosystem experienced a funding crunch, without which Koo would have been on its way to rapid expansion in the international market.
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