New Delhi: The little yellow bird’s wings have been clipped. There is no flight left to take… it’s a fall from grace. A challenger to the blue bird when Twitter faced headwinds in India and was even rumoured to migrate out of India –Koo saw the kind of jingoistic approval like no other in recent history. Politicians found a new platform to command an audience base, and celebrities saw it as another upcoming tool to influence.
The hysteria was short lived — Koo’s journey has officially ended. The bird has fallen, never to take flight again. Founder Aprameya’s LinkedIn post says it all. Partnership talks fell through, and running a social media company is tough business. It requires deep investments in technology and sustained and patient capital flow. Moreover, Koo’s investors did not want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of social media.
While’s Koo’s obituary would be the most wordy, it is hardly the first Indian startup to fail. In the immediate post-pandemic era of 2022, as many as 5,868 Indian startups shut shop. That number came down to 1,720 in 2023 and 4 already this year. And those that survive, often find it hard to make money. The whole valuation-driven business model has faced criticism from many traditional business commentators.
Impressive flight path
Koo’s initial flight path was impressive. It brought in 30 million dollars in a single tranche of investment in May 2021… almost half of the total 57 million dollars in investment from sharks like Tiger Global, Accel, and Kalari Capital. The company’s peak valuation touched almost 300 million dollars.
The Koo app was downloaded by some 60 million users – second only to Twitter, now X. It offered 20 languages making it the perfect fit for India.
It also had the perfect timing… during its high flying days, a lot changed at Twitter – and not just its name. Elon Musk bought it and delisted it, continuing to run it as a private company. Many placed bets on Musk running Twitter to the ground. But X survives… and grows. It is a leaner ship with a revenue model (but little revenue).
The downfall
However, Koo’s numbers did not add up. It’s peak operating income stood at only 14 lakh rupees – back in 2021-22. It’s losses, however, stood at a humungous 197 crore rupees.
A little birdie also says that Umang Bedi – the founder of VerSe Innovation that runs DailyHunt and ShareChat was in talks to acquire Koo. Perhaps that was the last straw the little yellow bird was holding on to.
Finally, there was no nest left where Koo could take shelter. Koo’s failure is yet another example of unit economics not adding up, and investor interest fading away with numbers not showing returns.
Homegrown microblogging site Koo, once touted as India’s answer to Twitter, chirped its last sigh on Tuesday. Know all about its rise and fall from fame. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
