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Koo, the Indian microblogging platform designed to compete with X (Twitter), is shutting down. The platform rose to prominence in 2021 during a dispute between the Indian government and X (Twitter) regarding content removal, leading many Union government ministers and departments to join Koo.
Mayank Bidawatka and Aprameya Radhakrishna, the co-founders of Koo, mentioned in a LinkedIn post that they sought partnerships with “multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses,” but these discussions did not lead to the desired outcome, with some potential partners changing their priorities close to finalizing agreements.
Following a report by The Morning Context, it was revealed that the negotiations between Koo and DailyHunt did not succeed. Although Koo expanded into Brazil, achieving over 1 million downloads within 48 hours of its launch, it faced challenges in establishing a strong foothold in the Indian market.
Koo’s interface, similar to Twitter’s, allowed users to categorize posts with hashtags and tag others in mentions or replies. The platform regularly introduced new features, such as “Talk to Type,” and supported several Indian languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, and Punjabi.
Notable Indian figures such as Piyush Goyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, author Amish Tripathi, cricketers Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, and Brazilian celebrities like Babu Santana, Claudia Leitte, and Rosana Hermann were among the early adopters of Koo.
The platform also collaborated with the Indian government on various projects and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Uttar Pradesh’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Export Promotion Department in 2022 to support the “One District, One Product” initiative.
Koo successfully secured funding of $6 crore from prominent investors such as Tiger Global and Accel following its victory in the Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge, under the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative.
However, in April of the previous year, the company laid off approximately 30% of its workforce, which amounted to nearly 300 employees, due to escalating losses, a decrease in active users, and a downturn in global sentiment.
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