Koo: News
Koo is an Indian-origin microblogging platform that rivals the likes of Crater. It offers a social networking service to the Indian masses and shot to popularity when Twitter was drawing flak from the Indian government for its policies. In early 2021, was promoted by several incumbent government ministers including Piyush Goyal and Ravi Shankar Prasad. Originally known as Ku Koo Ku, the app is owned by Bominate Technologies Pvt. Ltd. headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is the brainchild of Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka founded in 2020. The app’s noteworthy investors as of August 2021 include Tiger Global, Kalaari Capital, and IIFL. Koo won the Indian government's Aatmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in August 2020. As of 2021, Koo boasts over 10 million users, approximately 50 employees, and a valuation of over $100 million. Koo supports content in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, and Marathi. Thanks to its compatibility with India's diverse population, the app raked in 2.6 billion installs from app stores in 2020. The app also replaced Twitter in Nigeria in June after the latter was banned in the country for deleting a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.
03 Jul 2024
Tiger GlobalWhy India's alternative to X, Koo is shutting down
Indian social media platform, Koo, has declared its closure following unsuccessful acquisition discussions with internet media start-up Dailyhunt.
28 Feb 2024
DailyhuntDailyhunt in talks to acquire Indian social network Koo
Dailyhunt is said to be in the final stages of talks to acquire Koo, a Bengaluru-based social network.
20 Apr 2023
XTwitter-rival Koo lays off 30% of employees: Here's why
Tech companies around the world are now chasing efficiency. Twitter-rival Koo is in the same boat.
16 Dec 2022
Elon MuskAfter Mastodon, Twitter suspends an account belonging to Koo
Twitter rivals Mastodon and Koo grew in popularity after Elon Musk acquired the microblogging platform. Twitter is now fighting back, albeit being slightly dirty at that.
08 Nov 2022
X#NewsBytesExplainer: Amid Elon Musk's Twitter transition, how are rivals performing?
On October 28, Elon Musk tweeted, "The bird is freed," marking the beginning of a new era for Twitter.
27 May 2021
WhatsAppNewsBytes Briefing: WhatsApp avenges Twitter in India, and more
Not long after Delhi Police raided Twitter's offices, WhatsApp has avenged its social media peer by suing the Indian government. Facebook is playing it smart by refraining from simply refusing to comply to government demands.
26 May 2021
Startups#FundingAlert: Koo's valuation crosses $100 million mark amid fresh investment
India's homegrown Twitter rival Koo has raised $30 million (approximately Rs. 218 crore) in a Series-B funding round led by Tiger Global. Existing investors have also participated in the round.
16 Feb 2021
XAmid Twitter row, Centre to use Koo for quicker updates
The Indian government is reportedly planning to use Twitter rival Koo as its key mode of communication with the public amid a row with the US-based microblogging platform.
12 Feb 2021
XTwitter rival Koo records 3 million downloads after government endorsement
Homegrown Twitter alternative Koo has seen a tremendous growth in its userbase this week. The microblogging app has crossed three million users.
11 Feb 2021
FacebookNewsBytes Briefing: There's some Chinese in my Koo, and more
A French hacker with a penchant for embarrassing Indian software endeavors claims to have found data breaches in the Koo app.
10 Feb 2021
XGovernment responds to Twitter's 'freedom of expression' blog on Koo
Twitter, pulled up by the Indian government for failing to comply with its orders, on Wednesday released a verbose blog highlighting the measures it took and didn't take in the recent days, only to receive a scathing response from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on Koo, the homegrown alternative of the micro-blogging website.
09 Feb 2021
XAmid Centre-Twitter row, IT Ministry moves to homegrown platform Koo
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has set up an account on Koo, a homegrown platform akin to Twitter after the United States-based company failed to comply with the government's order of blocking some URLs in connection with the farmers' protests.
