Get All Access for $5/mo

Chingari Raises $13 Mn In Funding Round Led By OnMobile This investment will allow Chingari to accelerate its growth from 56 million users to over 100 million users

By Prabhjeet Bhatla

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Chingari

Homegrown short-form video app Chingari announced on Thursday that it has raised $13 million in a funding round led by OnMobile.

This investment will allow Chingari to accelerate its growth from 56 million users to over 100 million users.

"We are very excited about this investment and partnership bringing millions of users to the new ONMO gaming service while providing immediate business value and increased user reach for both companies," said François-Charles Sirois, executive chairman, OnMobile.

As part of the deal, OnMobile will integrate and distribute its direct-to-consumer ONMO gaming platform on the Chingari app and collaborate on other product integrations to serve millions of users. Chingari will use the funds to enhance its content portfolio, hire top talent and accelerate its growing user base.

"The Chingari team has built a terrific product with great user retention and growth. ONMO gaming's short format challenges and Chingari's short-form videos complement each other well," remarked Krish Seshadri, chief executive officer, OnMobile.

Other investors who participated in this round include Republic Labs US, Astarc Ventures, White Star Capital, India Tv (Rajat Sharma), JPIN Venture Catalysts Ltd, ProfitBoard Ventures, Raghunandan G of Zolve (co-founder, Taxi4sure), and some family office funds from the UK.

"We couldn't have hoped for a better partner than OnMobile and Krish to help Chingari embody its vision and become a content super media app for Bharat, and help engage the Billion Indians. With our visions aligned, this partnership promises to be a winning collaboration," commented Sumit Ghosh, co-founder, and chief executive officer, Chingari.

Chingari that started off as a short-form video app, has now positioned itself as a content media super app for Bharat. Chingari not only offers short-form videos, but has carved its niche by also introducing Chingari Multiplex, and the first one in India to introduce Social Video Commerce. Now, With the strategic partnership of OnMobile, Chingari would also be introducing gaming within the app, the company shared.

"We are thrilled to have Krish join our board at Chingari. His vast experience on working with various products like Facebook, Zynga, and many others adds great value to the team and the platform," added Aditya Kothari, co-founder, and chief strategy officer, Chingari.

Earlier last year Chingari had raised $1.4 million from a series of Angels, including Jasminder Gulati, FJ Labs (Fabrice Grinda), Angelist, Utsav Somani's iSeed, Village Global, and Blume Founders Fund.

Prabhjeet Bhatla

Former Staff

Innovation

The Key to Real Innovation Is Cross-Pollination — Here Are 10 Ways to Implement It in Your Business

Transform your business with this unique approach to sparking innovation.

Growth Strategies

AMD Confident About Increasing Market Share In India

The semiconductor company is positive about the business environment in India on the back of growing investments in data centers and AI, Cloud repatriation, as well as technology refresh taking place across companies on both server side and client devices

Starting a Business

Spend Less Time Worrying About Your Company's Runway — And More Time Rethinking Your Strategy. Here's How.

Perceived short runways leave founders in angst. It does not have to be this way; the best way to extend the runway is the right strategy.

Business News

Wells Fargo Reportedly Fired More Than a Dozen Employees for Faking Keyboard Activity

The bank told Bloomberg that it "does not tolerate unethical behavior."

Leadership

Tech Overload Will Destroy Your Customer Relationships. Are You Guilty of Using Too Much Tech?

Technology's value in our world is undeniable. However, there can be a point where it is ineffective and possibly counterproductive. See where it can negatively impact your product, brand, and business.

News and Trends

Work With AI: LinkedIn Debuts Suite of New AI Experiences

In a blog post, LinkedIn chief product officer Tomer Cohen shared how the company observed a remarkable trend of a 5x increase year-over-year in the number of learners engaging with Al courses and content on the platform