KooApp News: Koo, India’s homegrown microblogging platform with around 10 million active users, is shutting down its operations after failing to secure major partnerships and funding. Co-founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka announced the closure of the app on LinkedIn, citing failed acquisition talks with potential buyers.
This is general information about Koo App-
The Koo app was launched on 14 November 2019 in Google Playstore. Koo had more than 1 crore downloads and till the time of writing the news, it had a rating of 4.3 in Android Playstore, which was rated by 4,76,126 people. This app was last updated on 19 February 2024.
Koo used to have many technical problems-
Koo used to have many technical problems like not getting OTP while logging in, not refreshing the feed, not seeing new posts even after they are not public
Many features were better than X (formerly Twitter)-
Koo app had many features which are not even available in its competitor X (formerly Twitter) app like getting yellow tick for free, setting 10 profile photos at once, posting in more than 10 languages at once and many such features which are not available in X (formerly Twitter) till the time of writing the news.
What were the reasons for the closure of KOO-
Although there have been many reasons for the closure of KOO, some of the reasons which fall under the category of very important are given below
Financial challenges:-
Despite the initial funding and user base, KOO could not achieve profitability. Running a social media platform involves the high cost of technology, infrastructure, content moderation, and user acquisition. They struggled to find ways to consistently generate revenue to cover these expenses.
Merger talks failed:-
Negotiations for a merger with another company failed. This potential merger could have provided Koo with the financial support it needed to continue operating. Without this support, the app was not sustainable.
What message did Koo give in the end-
Koo finally gave an emotional message on its website https://www.kooapp.com/ in which he wrote-
“Hello.
With a very heavy heart we inform you that Koo will no longer be operational. We will cease operations on July 3, 2024.
We started Koo with a mission to bring people together based on their native language. Most global products focus on English but 80% of the world speak thousands of languages other than English. We wanted to help these users connect with each other and exchange ideas in a more meaningful way. We started Koo 4 years ago in March 2020, just before the COVID lockdown started. Koo was a COVID baby. Over the years it has received a lot of love from users, creators, celebrities around the world and the media. It was the only real competitor to Twitter. It has over 60 million downloads, over 8000 VIP accounts, 100 publisher accounts and millions of hours spent by everyone consuming content and spending time on it.
We are very sad to take this platform away from millions of users who love to spend time on it. Unfortunately running a social media company requires a few years of heavy spending before it can become profitable. We also needed some more time to get there. We have been trying to raise funds for the last 2 years, but the funding market turned bad, not only for Koo, but for thousands of startups. It has become very difficult to continue operations now.
Thank you very much for the love and trust you have placed in Koo. It’s time to say goodbye to the little yellow bird 🙁
Apremeya and Mayank
Co-founders, Koo”
Many big personalities had accounts on Koo-
Ever since the launch of Koo, it was praised by the people of India and they used to feel proud that now Indians are also walking shoulder to shoulder with the world in the IT and digital age. The Government of India also promoted this app a lot. Along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, many Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari etc. also had accounts on this app. Along with this, many big names of the country’s fields also had accounts on the app like Virat Kohli, Anupam Kher etc. Departments of many states also had accounts on the Koo app. Along with this, many big companies of India also had accounts in it, but due to the closure of Koo, all accounts have also been closed.
The government also promoted it a lot-
Twitter (now X) faced the most problems due to the new digital media rules of the Government of India and the Koo app benefited from this. In the year 2021, when there was an atmosphere of tension between the Government of India and Twitter (now X), many new users joined Koo and its active users also increased. That is why the Government of India also promoted this app a lot. In this app, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, many Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari etc. also had accounts.