“Built with a lot of heart,” microblogging platform Koo shuts operations

X (formerly Twitter) lookalike microblogging platform Koo is shutting down its operations. Launched in March 2020 in more than 10 Indian languages, the homemade social media platform aimed to democratise expression and enable a better way to connect people in their local languages.

Mayank Bidawakta and Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-founders of Koo took to Linkedin to share the disheartening news of discontinuing Koo. In the post, the duo said, “ Our partnership talks fell through and we will be discontinuing our service to the public. While we would've liked to keep the app running, the cost of technology services to keep a social media app running is high and we've had to take this tough decision.”

Marketed as India’s alternative to X (formerly Twitter), the platform was promoted extensively by politicians and celebrities across India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and actress Kangana Ranaut were seen actively posting on the platform. The platform even gained traction in Brazil and Nigeria but failed to move the masses from X on its home turf. 

It is important to note that Koo had 2.1 million daily active users and nearly 10 million monthly active users.

Koo has explored merger and acquisition (M&A) options with large conglomerates, but none of these discussions resulted in a deal, according to Radhakrishna.

The platform's most recent funding round took place in November 2022, when it raised $6 million. This round was co-led by Tiger Global and Accel Partners, with additional participation from Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital, and Dream Incubator (DI).

Social media is one of the toughest companies to build even with all resources available as you need to grow users to a significant scale before one can even think of revenue. Citing challenges with long-term capital investments, Bidawakta said, “A prolonged funding winter which hit us at our peak. We needed 5 to 6 years of aggressive, long term and patient capital to make this dream a reality.”