Koo is officially shutting down

Koo, the Indian social microblogging platform, is officially shutting down. The company’s co-founder Mayank Bidawatka has shared the “final update” about the app. Bidawatka announced in a LinkedIn post: “We will be discontinuing our service to the public”. The update from the co-founder came just hours after a report by The Morning Context on Wednesday that revealed that after an acquisition conversation between Koo and DailyHunt fell through, the Indian microblogging platform will be shutting down. Bidawatka’s post on LinkedIn confirms the same. “We explored multiple partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates, and media houses, but these talks didn’t yield the outcome we wanted,” he wrote in the post. “While we would've liked to keep the app running, the cost of technology services to keep a social media app running is high and we've had to take this tough decision,” Bidawatka added.

Koo was launched in March 2020 by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka. It gained recognition by winning the AatmaNirbhar App Innovation Challenge, organised by the Government of India, in August 2020. The app was supposed to be India’s answer to Twitter, amid rising cries for using made in India products and services in the country. Fast-forward to April 2023, Koo began downsizing its workforce to manage expenses. Over the course of a year, it reduced its 260-member team by 30 percent, laying off approximately 80 employees.

The company, however, seems to be still looking for a good deal. Bidawatka says the company will be “happy to share some of these assets with someone with a great vision for India's foray into social media”. He adds, “We will also evaluate making this into a digital public good to enable social conversations in native languages, around the world. This is very difficult and complicated tech and we've built it painstakingly in record time”.

Most global products are dominated by Americans. We believe that India should have a place at the table,” says Mayank Bidawatka. Nevertheless, the founders of the company have promised a comeback. Bidawatka concluded the final update for Koo by saying, “You will see us back in the arena one way or another”.