Dailyhunt in talks to acquire social networking startup Koo

Talks for media startup Dailyhunt to acquire Bangalore-based social network Koo are in advanced stages, two people familiar with the matter told me.

The source added that the potential deal being discussed involves an equity swap agreement and could be completed within weeks. The sources requested anonymity because the matter is private.

Previously, Koo had tried to become a competitor to Twitter and was actively looking for new capital last year. The social network, which launched in India and Brazil, is betting that its approach of supporting multiple local languages ​​will help its namesake app resonate broadly with the wider public.

Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka said in September that the startup, which has raised more than $60 million from investors including Tiger Global, Accel, 3One4 Capital, Mirae Asset and Blume, was looking for people with “distribution muscle.” ” strategic partner. The “next phase” of the journey.

“From rapid growth to scaling back growth to proving unit economics, within 6 months of the revenue experiment we did a 180 and proved this was a real business,” he wrote.

Dailyhunt was last valued at $5 billion, and Koo declined to comment.

VerSe Innovation, the parent company of Dailyhunt, has more than 300 million users in India through its news aggregation platform and short video app Josh. The company raised $805 million in funding in April 2022 from investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board, Sofina Group and Baillie Gifford.