Koo, an Indian startup launched in 2020 to compete with Twitter (now X), is shutting down. The company, founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, will end operations after unsuccessful acquisition talks with numerous large net companies, conglomerates, and media homes consistent with its founders. Koo became one of several companies attempting to provide alternatives to US-based net services in India, focusing on customers in nearby languages.
Founders announce Koo Shuts Down
In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Koo founders Radhakrishna and Bidawatka stated that Koo would be shut down after acquisition discussions with “more than one larger internet organizations, conglomerates, and media houses” didn’t materialize. A TechCrunch document in February claimed that Koo was in talks to be obtained by Bangalore-primarily based information and content aggregator Dailyhunt.
The founder also said that “a pair” of the groups that were in talks with the organization “changed precedence nearly near signing” and “a maximum of them failed to want to deal with consumer-generated content material and the wild nature of a social media organization.”
Koo had around 10 million monthly lively users and 2.1 million daily lively users at its peak. The app grew in reputation — boosted via an endorsement and adoption via the authorities — whilst Twitter and the authorities of India locked horns over content takedown requests. In 2022, Koo crossed the 50 million person mark and stated it was aiming to overtake Twitter’s person base in India within a year.
Another factor that affected the employer’s growth was an extended investment winter that has additionally affected several different startups around the arena. Radhakrishna states that Koo needed five to 6 years of “competitive, long time and patient capital” to grow customers to a significant scale earlier than generating sales.
