acquisition

Indian social media platform Koo is shutting down after acquisition talks with Dailyhunt fell through. Despite securing over $60 million in funding from notable backers like Tiger Global and Accel, Koo was unable to significantly grow its user base or become profitable in the past year. Koo's founders, Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, cited challenges in forming partnerships with larger internet firms, conglomerates, and media organizations. Many potential partners were hesitant to engage with user-generated content and the unpredictable nature of a social media startup. The company had positioned itself as a homegrown alternative to X (formerly Twitter), aiming to attract users by providing a platform for expressing themselves in various Indian languages. However, Koo struggled to retain the initial anti-Twitter sentiment that helped it gain traction. Engagement and reach on Koo were lower compared to other platforms. The platform also faced challenges in moderating hateful content, with a report finding that it failed to remove a majority of misogynistic posts. Also ReadDailyhunt in talks to acquire microblogging platform Koo: Report In recent months, Koo has halted salary payments to employees and reduced its workforce by over 80% since June 2022. The company has been seeking a strategic partner or acquisition, but the situation has taken a negative turn. Despite the backing of prominent investors, Koo failed to establish a sustainable revenue model and heavily relied on burning cash to acquire users. With active users dropping from 7.2 million to 2.7 million in the past nine months, the platform's future appears uncertain. With inputs from agencies

acquisition

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Koo, India’s twitter alternative, shuts down as acquisition talks fail