Koo, a popular microblogging platform in India, has announced its decision to shut down operations due to a lack of funding and high technology costs.
Launched in 2020 as an alternative to Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), Koo gained significant traction in 2021 with over 20 million downloads.
The platform’s founders, Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, attributed the shutdown to unsuccessful efforts to secure funding, citing the high cost of technology services and the challenges of dealing with user-generated content, BBC reports.
Koo offered messaging in more than 10 Indian languages.
It gained prominence in 2021 after several ministers endorsed it amid a row between the Indian government and X, which was then known as Twitter.
By the end of 2021, the app had touched 20 million downloads in the country.
However, the platform has struggled to get funding in the last few years.
Announcing its latest decision to shut down service on Wednesday, founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, said talks with several companies on funding didn’t materialise.
They blamed the high cost of technology services for “taking this tough decision”.
“We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted.
“Most of them didn’t want to deal with user-generated content and the wild nature of a social media company. A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing,” they wrote on LinkedIn.
It was reported that the Federal Government had in 2021 opened a Koo account after it suspended X operations in Nigeria.
The microblogging and social networking service, known then as Twitter, was suspended in Nigeria after the platform deleted a post by the then-Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.
