The deal will create India’s largest short-video platform.
ShareChat will buy OTT service MX Player’s short video app MX TakaTakin in a $600-million deal (Rs 4,500 crore – Rs 5,500 crore).
Contents
Deal Structure
The deal will create India’s largest short-video platform.
It is a combination of cash and stock sized about $900 million.
MX Media, the parent firm of MX Player and MX TakaTak, and its shareholders will become strategic holders in ShareChat’s parent firm Mohalla Tech.
The value of the deal might change towards the end.
ShareChat is an indigenous social media platform which provides short video content through Moj.
It was founded in 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni- Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Singh and was one of the early players in regional language content.
Times Internet-owned MX TakaTak, also a short video platform, is a close rival of ShareChat.
Significance
Thanks to the acquisition Moj (160 million monthly active users) and MX TakaTak (150 million MAUs) will together have an active user base of over 300 million.
Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Media said that the deal will make use of MX’ products along with Moj’s AI and execution capabilities to make a “truly world class short video platform.”
He added that the company will use its “significantly increased” financial resources to continue to “double down on OTT”.
Ankush Sachdeva of ShareChat and Moj said that the merger solidifies the company’s position in the short video ecosystem.
With the acquisition it will build the “largest original content platform on Moj along with the largest community of users across India.”
After The Deal
Mohalla Tech which owns ShareChat employs over 2000, and will add 180 employees of MX TakaTak through the acquisition.
The deal’s closure is being targeted at the end of the month.
MX Taka Tak will continue to function as a separate platform for the time being, but the creator base, content supply and recommendation algorithms of the two platforms will be integrated eventually.
New Features For Users
Post integration users and creators of both platforms will be able to expand their reach and audience.
Users will get to use unique features such as best-in-class camera creation tools with Snap filters, live commerce, and a vast music library.
Taka Tak will also gain access to camera technology from US-based Snapchat, which is an investor in ShareChat.
Success After TikTok Ban
Ever since TikTok was banned by the Indian government in June 2020, domestic players rose to the occasion to fill the void.
Moj was launched around the time of the ban, MX TakaTak was launched in July 2020 and Josh in September 2020.
All these companies have witnessed impressive growth over the last two years.
ShareChat has an annualised revenue of $35 million which it wants to grow to $100 million by the end of 2023 via “social and live commerce initiatives”.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.