Google is in talks to acquire the popular Indian social media app ShareChat, according to a report from the Indian business news outlet ET Now. According to ET Now, Google is in ‘advanced’ talks to acquire ShareChat for about $1 billion in what could be one of the biggest social media acquisitions from India.

A $1 billion price for ShareChat doesn’t seem far-fetched, given that the company is backed by some $263 million in venture funding and was valued at $650 million from its most recent funding round. Notably, one of ShareChat’s biggest investors is the American social media company Twitter, which led a $100 million Series D round for ShareChat in 2019.

ShareChat is one of the most popular apps in India, currently with 160 million monthly active users. The app is specifically tailored to Indians, with availability in 15 Indic languages. 

ShareChat is mainly a chat app but also provides a platform for users to share content with each other. It was founded just in 2015 and has grown to become one of the most used apps in India. Already growing at a fast rate, ShareChat’s growth further increased after the Indian government banned TikTok along with dozens of other Chinese apps in late June. 

In July this year, Google notably committed to invest $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years. The company has already partially fulfilled its promise with a $4.5 billion investment in the Indian telecom outfit Reliance Jio this July. Now, it’s possible that a ShareChat acquisition could fall under Google’s stated $10 billion commitment to India.

Photo: Google CEO Sundar Pichai|by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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