Introduction
Koo, the owner of Bombinate Technologies, based in Bangalore, an Indian microblogging and social networking service developed by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka. Koo, which debuted in early 2020, outperformed over 7,000 applicants in the government’s Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge. Koo’s owner, Bombinate Technologies, is estimated to be worth approximately $275 million as of November 2022. Tiger Global, Blume Ventures, Accel Partners India, Kalaari Capital, and 3one4 Capital are among the investors.
History
Initial growth
In 2020, Twitter had 28 million installs from Indian app stores, compared to 2.6 million for Koo. Due to a dispute between Twitter and the Indian government regarding account restriction during the farmers’ demonstrations, Koo’s popularity skyrocketed in February. Koo’s user base increased as government officials, like as Cabinet Ministers like Piyush Goyal, relocated there. On Koo, Ravi Shankar Prasad had 2.5 million followers as of April 2021.
Koo in Nigeria
Following Twitter’s permanent prohibition in Nigeria due to the removal of a post by President Muhammadu Buhari, Koo emerged as the country’s substitute for the social media platform. The remark broke Twitter policy because it was interpreted as a threat to local separatists. On June 5, 2021, Twitter was officially prohibited in Nigeria. Five days later, the Nigerian government established its own Koo account. Nigerian government personnel stopped using Koo by 2022 when the Twitter ban was lifted.
Koo in Brazil
Following the problems with Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition, Koo became more well-liked among Brazilian people. At first, the app was only used by 2,000 Brazilians, placing Brazil 75th in the world in terms of users. But on November 18, more than a million Brazilians signed up, propelling their country to the second rank among Koo’s users. Because the app was the most popular in Brazil on Google Play and Apple App Store, Portuguese language support was added. Personalities from Brazil, such as Felipe Neto and Bruno Gagliasso, joined despite the initial instability brought on by heavy traffic. Users were drawn in by the moniker “Koo,” which is phonetically similar to an offensive Portuguese slur. After asking Brazilians on Twitter about renaming the company, Koo finally decided against it, and it became one of the top three subjects in Brazil’s Twitter trending topics.
Funding
Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, Dream Incubator, 3one4 Capital, IIFL, and Mirae Asset are among Koo’s investors as of May 2021. Koo raised $30 million in Series B fundraising on May 26, 2021, with Tiger Global leading the round. This increased Koo’s valuation from roughly $25 million to over $100 million. By March 2021, Shunwei Capital has sold all of its shares in Koo. Koo secured an extra $6 million in fundraising on November 25, 2022, with Accel Partners and Tiger Global leading the charge.
Interface and features
Logo Redesigned on May 14, 2021, Koo’s logo is a yellow bird.
User Experience Koo’s UI is similar to Twitter’s, allowing for user mentions, replies, and hashtag classification. It has a white and yellow color scheme.
Features On May 4, 2021, “Talk to Type” was introduced, enabling voice assistance posts.
employs a yellow checkmark to confirm accounts.
Integration On March 14, 2023, ChatGPT was integrated, allowing AI-powered content production.
Language support for Koo is extensive, with support for Hindi, English, Portuguese, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, Marathi, Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi, Hausa, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Korean among its original Kannada language.
