Koo, the Indian social media platform once touted as the desi rival to X (formerly Twitter), has announced that it will be shutting down its operations. The move comes as a significant blow to the Indian tech ecosystem, with many industry leaders weighing in on the development.
Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal expressed his sentiments on the closure of Koo. “Sad to see what happened with Koo. We need Indian social platforms but recreating what already exists won’t get us there,” he stated in a post on X. Aggarwal also shared his thoughts on the future of social media, emphasizing the importance of innovation and unique value propositions. “I believe the future of social is going to be open and based on DPI principles. But as @joinmastodon shows, that alone will not be enough. Any thoughts?” he added.
The co-founders of Koo, Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, took to LinkedIn to explain the reasons behind the shutdown. They cited the failure to secure necessary investor support as a critical factor. “Our partnership talks fell through and we will be discontinuing our service to the public. We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted. Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company,” they said.
Radhakrishna and Bidawatka also highlighted the challenges faced by Koo in sustaining its operations amid a prolonged funding winter. “A couple of internet companies changed priority almost close to signing but the cost of technology services to keep a social media app running was too high,” they noted. Despite early successes and investments from prominent investors like Tiger Global, Accel, 3one4 Capital, and Kalaari Capital, Koo struggled to maintain its growth trajectory. “Social media is probably one of the toughest companies to build even with all resources available as you need to grow users to a significant scale before one thinks of revenue,” they said.
Koo was launched in 2020 and quickly gained traction in 2021 amid reported tensions between the Indian government and Twitter. Several Union ministers, politicians, and government departments had signed up for Koo, bolstering its initial growth. However, the platform’s inability to secure sustained funding and partnerships ultimately led to its downfall.
