Bengaluru-based short video and social media startup, Chingari, raises $1.3 million for its mobile platform. 

The company’s platform allows users to create and upload content, as well as engage with other users, similar to other social media sites. Creators then receive 30 percent of the revenue made from the platform from companies. 

“Sumit and team Chingari have shown how to ship product features at a pace that I have not come across before.” AngelList India Partner, Utsav Somani, said, as reported by Financial Express. “They have their ears to the ground, listening to users and are engaging with them on all channels to translate that into the best short video content experience for Bharat’s demanding users.” 

The funds from the new seed investment round will be used to focus on the further development of the platform and its features, with plans for team growth. 

The mobile app is available in 10 languages so far, including English, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Punjabi. Chingari, which has 25 million users, gained an increase in popularity after the banning of 59 Chinese apps at the end of June. 

“We never built the business thinking TikTok needs to be banned or will be banned.” CEO of Chingari, Sumit Ghosh said, as reported by Financial Express. “We had a growth plan before the ban and to co-exist with TikTok. We will continue doing the same.”

With the app’s number of downloads exceeding a crore, it currently sees around three million users per day, so far. 

AngelList India, iSeed, Village Global, LogX Ventures, and Jasminder Singh Gulati are among investors in the $1.3 million seed investment round. 

“We are doing Bharat specific innovations like giving a platform to crores of Indians to showcase their talent and also win a prize of whopping Rs 1 crore and total Rs 2.55 crores,” Ghosh said to Financial Express.

Chingari was founded in 2018 by Sumit Ghosh, Biswatma Nayak and Siddharth Gautam. 

(Picture courtesy: Menxp)