- Short video app Chingari raised $19 million in crypto tokens from 30 venture funds and individual investors.
- This round is in the form of stablecoins — USDC and Tether — which are less volatile and are backed by US dollars.
- Chingari believes that these tokens are a critical element of the platform, which will enable the creators to set up their ecommerce space.
The company has highlighted that they have raised this round in the form of stablecoins — USDC and Tether — which are less volatile and are backed by US dollars.
The company will use this capital to build its own token called $GARI with the decentralised computing platform Solana, which is powered by blockchain technology. These tokens would further help the platform grow creator monetisation.
“While crypto experiences a rapid expansion in India, $GARI is poised to make it mainstream. We are infusing the two, through robust strategies and incorporation of the most-promising industry advances,” Sumit Ghosh, cofounder and chief executive of Chingari, said in a statement.
Chingari believes that these tokens are a critical element of the platform, which will enable the creators to set up their ecommerce space, with physical merchandise, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and the ability for fans to fund their favourite artists.
Several investors participated in the round — including Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Kraken, Blackpine, NGC, Coinfund, LD Capital, Borderless Capital, AU21, Cultur3 Capital, Long Term Ventures, Afton Capital, and CSP DAO.
“Collective ownership of social platforms like Chingari has the potential to upend the creator-platform relationship and unlock new monetisation models for creators. Solana blockchain’s high throughput, low transaction fees, and fast finality make it a great foundation for platforms targeting global adoption,” said Raj Gokal, chief operating officer at Solana Labs.
Founded in November 2018 by Sumit Ghosh, Deepak Salvi, Aditya Kothari and Biswatma Nayak, Chingari has raised $33 million to date. It is backed by Republic Capital, Astarc Ventures, JPIN, OnMobile and others. It launched a video commerce vertical in February this year to provide a monetisation engine for creators on its platform.
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