Indian Microblogging Platform Koo to Shut Down its Operations

The Indian microblogging platform Koo, which was introduced in 2020 as a rival to Twitter (now known as X), has declared its closure after making vain attempts to find a buyer. The business, which was founded four years ago by Aprameya Radhakrisna and Mayank Bidawatka, will close after acquisition negotiations with “multiple large internet companies, conglomerates and media houses” broke down. Koo was one of several businesses that made an effort to develop local language-serving substitutes for US-based Internet services in India. The news was announced by the co-founders in a thorough LinkedIn post that described the difficulties and development of the platform.

Koo’s beginning

Beginning operations in March 2020, Koo quickly rose to prominence during the 2021 Twitter takedown request related to farmer protests, which caused a standoff between the Indian government and the platform. The founders noted in the post that they observed a significant linguistic divide between the languages spoken around the world and the English dominance of the majority of social media platforms, particularly Twitter in India. Politicians and well-known celebrities jumped at the chance to join the platform. The website claimed to have over 9,000 VIPs, including some of the most well-known figures in a variety of industries.

Koo was founded with the goal of bridging the gap between the languages used around the world and the social media sites like X in India that are predominately English-speaking. Given that 80 percent of people on the planet speak languages other than English, Koo sought to promote local language connections and democratize expression.

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Koo’s performance over the years

With a 10% like ratio—much higher than Twitter’s—the platform made a big impression and became a more appealing place for creators. Approximately 2.1 million active users per day and roughly 10 million active users per month, including over 9000 VIPs from a variety of fields, were boasted by Koo at its height. The company’s growth plans were hampered by a protracted funding winter, but it was on the verge of overtaking Twitter in India in 2022.

But Koo first faced difficulties in September 2022 when it let go of about 40 workers, and then in April 2023 it reduced its workforce by thirty percent. Its monthly active users (MAUs) fell to roughly 3.1 million in the same month as January 2023, when they were approximately 4.1 million. Koo had discussed a possible buyout with startups like DailyHunt and Sharechat in recent months, but those discussions eventually fell through.

Despite looking into joint ventures with bigger media outlets, conglomerates, and internet companies, Radhakrishna clarified that the discussions had not produced a positive outcome. “Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company. A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing,” Aprameya noted. The difficult decision to end Koo’s service was made all the more difficult by the high cost of maintaining a social media app.

Why is Koo shutting down?

The difficulties in developing a social media business were brought to light by Radhakrishna, who noted that substantial scale is necessary before revenue is taken into account. To achieve its goal, Koo required patient, long-term, and aggressive funding for five to six years. But in the end, these plans were derailed by funding winter and market conditions.

The co-founders mentioned their failed attempts to form partnerships with large media outlets, conglomerates, and internet businesses. The founders stated that their difficult decision was influenced by the high costs of maintaining social media services, even though they would have preferred to keep the business open.

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The post, attributed to both the Co-founders Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, read, “We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates and media houses but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted. Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company. A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing. 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.”

Microblogging platform Koo to cease operations

Although Koo is closing its doors, Radhakrishna suggested that someone with a vision for India’s place in social media might be able to make use of the platform’s resources. The group is thinking about releasing the technology as a digital public good so that people all over the world can have social conversations in their native tongues.

More than $60 million has been raised by Koo from various investors, such as Blume, 3One4 Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, and Mirae Asset. The co-founders noted the acquisition talks’ failure and emphasized, “A couple of them changed priorities almost close to signing. 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.” 

Finally, Radhakrishna highlighted the need for patient, long-term funding to develop Indian products that can compete globally and made hints about upcoming business endeavors. “As for us, we are entrepreneurs at heart, and you will see us back in the arena one way or another,” he said, thanking the small yellow bird that stood in for Koo and saying goodbye.

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