The parent company of India’s ShareChat has raised nearly $300 million in fresh funding.  This happened from Alphabet’s Google, media giant Times Group and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. it has been valuing the social media firm at nearly $5 billion, Reuters told two sources involved in the deal discussions.

Apart from this, the source added the deal is set to be announced as early as next week. Its parent company, Mohalla Tech, did not respond to a request for comment. Goand Temasek did not respond quickly to requests for comment, while Reuters also did not reach the Times Group. This is Google’s second major investment in India’s short video space. 

In contrast, It has previously backed Josh, which competes with ShareChat’s sister firm Moj. Google’s investment in a bearish market for Indian start-ups shows the appetite for the short video sector and the start-up’s investment thesis, one of the sources said. India’s tech startups, which raised a record $35 billion in new funds in 2021, have been struggling to raise funds as corporate governance concerns loom large for investors facing a new uncertainty in global markets.

On the other hand, Short video apps like Josh shot and Moj rose in popularity after India 2020 banned Tik Tok and some other Chinese apps. It happened due to the border clash with China. It currently has  180 million monthly active users. According to one of the sources, Moj, along with Mohalla’s recently acquired MX TakaTak. Now, it has a combined user base of 300 million.

Moreover,  ShareChat has last valued at $3.7 billion in a $266 million funding round from investors including Alkeon Capital and Temasek. Apart from this, The firm also counts Snap and Twitter among its investors. The source added If the bid by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to buy Twitter goes through, Musk will potentially have a stake of between 6 percent and 8 percent in ShareChat.