ShareChat to Acquire Rival MX TakaTak Short-Video App for $700 Million

The parent company of India’s ShareChat will acquire local rival MX’s short-video platform in a deal worth about $700 million, as competition heats up in a sector in which foreign investors have placed major bets.

Indian short-video apps have become popular since New Delhi banned ByteDance’s TikTok and some other Chinese apps in 2020 following a border clash between the armies of the two Asian giants.

After TikTok was banned, ShareChat’s parent entity, Mohalla Tech, launched a similar short-video sharing app named Moj, which has over time garnered 160 million users. MX has roughly 100 million.

In a cash-and-stock deal, ShareChat’s parent entity will acquire MX’s short-video platform called TakaTak, the sources familiar with the discussion said.

The deal could be announced within days, a source revealed. ShareChat and MX declined comment.

ShareChat, in which Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and US app Twitter are investors, is valued at about $4 billion.

With the MX TakaTak acquisition, ShareChat’s parent will now have two short-video apps in its portfolio. The company has plans to deepen its use of artificial intelligence tools and reach a much wider audience.

February 10, 2022