Video-focused social media platform Chingari has raised $13 million (Rs 95 crore) in its latest round of funding led by OnMobile Global.
The platform is operated by Tech4Billion Media.
Others in this round include Republic Labs US, Astarc Ventures, White Star Capital, JPIN Venture Catalysts, ProfitBoard Ventures and some UK-based large family office funds.
“We are thrilled to have Krish Seshadri (CEO of OnMobile) join our board at Chingari. His vast experience on various products like Facebook and Zynga adds great value," said Aditya Kothari, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Chingari.
As part of the deal, OnMobile will integrate its ONMO gaming platform into the Chingari app and collaborate on other product integrations.
“ONMO gaming’s short-format challenges and Chingari's short-form videos complement each other well," said Seshadri.
Chingari – set up in 2019 – says users on its platform can create and share their WhatsApp status updates, as well as audio and video clips, GIF stickers, and photos. The services are available in several languages including Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Punjabi.
The firm raised its seed round of funding last August weeks after the Indian government banned 59 Chinese mobile applications and software service suites, including ByteDance-owned social video platform TikTok, in response to a border clash between the two countries in June.
Established in 2000, OnMobile says it delivers over 575 million daily music plays to its mobile customers worldwide.
The Bengaluru-headquartered company claims it has a base of more than 1.68 billion users across several countries.
Its consumer-based services are offered under the ONMO brand name, which the company launched in October 2016.
OnMobile divides its offerings under two umbrellas: Carrier services and consumer services. Its carrier and subscription-based services include games, news and sports, videos, quizzes, and music.
In May last year, it picked up a minority stake in Canada-based rob0, which offers analytics for video game developers.
Several companies in the video space have raised funding in recent months. For example, Mitron TV Pvt Ltd, which operates an eponymous social video platform, raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners in August last year.