India's Koo raises $30 million in funding round led by Tiger Global

Koo was founded by serial entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder of Taxi For Sure and Mayank Bidawatka who previously founded companies like Media Ant and Goodbox

Koo has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by US-based investment firm Tiger Global, said the Indian social media firm on Wednesday, gaining finances as its international rival Twitter is asked to comply with New Delhi’s new rules on privacy.

The fresh round of funding will be utilised mainly to strengthen engineering, product and community efforts across all Indian languages at Koo, said the company in a statement.

The investment round was led by Tiger Global with the existing investors Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures and Dream Incubator also participating in the round. IIFL and Mirae Assets are other new investors who have come on board the cap table with this round.

Koo was set up by serial entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder of Taxi For Sure, and Mayank Bidawatka, who previously founded companies like Media Ant and Goodbox.

“We have aggressive plans to grow into one of the world’s largest social media platforms in the next few years. Every Indian is cheering for us to get there soon. Tiger Global is the right partner to have on board to realize this dream. The fresh round of funding will be utilized mainly to strengthen engineering, product and community efforts across all Indian languages at Koo,” said Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-Founder and CEO of Koo.

Koo, on May 22, said it has met the compliance requirements of the new guidelines for digital platforms ahead of the stipulated deadline later this month.

The new rules--announced earlier this year--require 'significant social media intermediaries' to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer. All three officials will have to reside in India.

The players will have to publish a monthly compliance report and details of the contents removed proactively.

In a statement, Koo said its Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Community Guidelines reflect the requirements of the Rules as applicable to significant social media intermediaries. Koo has close to 6 million (60 lakh) users, making it a major social media intermediary under the new guidelines.

In addition, Koo has implemented a due diligence and grievance redressal mechanism supported by an Indian resident Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Officer and Grievance Officer, it added.