India’s home-grown short video app Chingari announced on Thursday that it has raised $13 Mn as part of its Pre-Series A funding. Following this news, Techpluto accessed Chingari’s regulatory filings so that we could give a complete breakdown of the funding to our readers.
According to the regulatory filings, the Bengaluru based company has allotted 34,631 convertible shares at a price of Rs 17,208 per shares to raise nearly 59cr. The company is likely to receive remaining tranche in the coming days.
The pre-series A round was spearheaded by mobile entertainment company OnMobile, which has been allotted 18.520 preference shares for its contribution of nearly 32Cr. Other two major investors in this round include Republic Master Fund and White Star Capital. Republic Master Fund has been allotted 3010 preference shares for its contribution of Rs 5.17 crore while the latter has been allotted 1056 shares for its contribution of Rs 1.82 Crores. Hill Harbour Trading and helmet manufacturer Vega Auto have also contributed Rs 3 crore and Rs 75 Lakh respectively in the funding.
Chingari has received the remining amount from dozens of individual investors who hail from various business domains.
Here are the names of some the individual investors and number of shares allotted to them….
- Rahul Sarnobat (436 preference shares)
- ShivaKumar Savadi (436 preference shares)
- Rohit kahnna (465 preference shares)
- Minal Heda (145 preference shares)
Salman Khan Comes on Board as Investor
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has also picked a stake in Chingari through pre-series A funding. The company has allotted 7,809 preference shares and 36 equity shares to the Bollywood superstar. Following the investment, Salman Khan will officially act as the company’s brand ambassador.
Separately, the desi short video platform has also allotted 862 preference shares and 4 equity shares to Salman Khan owned talent management company Uniworld Being Talented.
Last year, Amir Khan had also invested in Lingerie startup Zivame, a news that was exclusively broken by Techpluto.
The latest funding will help the Bengaluru based company in consolidating its position in the market amid increasing competition. Chingari has been facing the heat with Sharechat’s Moj asserting domination in the market and Dailyhunt’s Josh app also gaining impressive traction in the market.
Why are investors backing short video apps?
Apart from the huge vacuum created in the market following TikTok ban, Indian consumers have developed a very strong appetite for short video content. According to consulting firm Redseer, Indians have emerged as the biggest consumer of short video content in the world. Redseer had published this report in December last year, which claimed that Indian smartphone users on an average spent 288 minutes per day in Fy20 for consuming short videos. China was at the second spot with its citizens spending on an average 264 minutes.
Please check the graph below
Note: ‘Content’ includes Social media, messaging, Short Form, OTT Video and Audio & YouTube.. ‘Other Apps’ includes mobility, Food Delivery, Fin-tech,Ed-Tech, E-Tailing, eB2B, Classifieds, Stay and Travel.
In another survey Redseer claimed that India’s tier 2 cities, touted as Bharat, has seen 25% jump in in short video content consumption in 2 years. It claimed that short video consumer base in Bharat or Tier 2 cities grew from 20 Mn in 2016 to 180 Mn in 2020.