Google and Twitter-backed Sharechat sees shake-up as two founders step down

File image: ShareChat logos are seen in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. (Image: Reuters)

Google and Twitter-backed ShareChat’s co-founders Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Pratap Singh have stepped down from executive roles at the company, a week after firing close to 600 employees, the company’s chief executive officer Ankush Sachdeva said in an internal note on January 25

However, both the co-founders will continue to remain on the social media company's board.

Moneycontrol had sent queries to Sharechat on the two co-founders taking a step back from day-to-day activities earlier this week.

While Ahsan was the chief operating officer, Singh had been the chief technology officer till now. The CEO said in the note accessed by Moneycontrol that senior Sharechat executives Manohar Singh Charan and Gaurav Bhatia who will lead the management and engineering functions, respectively, now on.

"Over last few months, we have onboarded several senior leaders in Engineering, Finance, HR and Content Ops who Bhanu & Farid have helped in getting ramped up and become well-equipped in steering the company going forward," Sachdeva wrote.

"Bhanu & Farid believe that all the critical business functions they are owning are now in steady hands and have decided to step down from their active roles in the company. They would however, continue to be a guiding force for the company and stay on the board," he added.

Mohalla Tech, the parent company of ShareChat, is currently valued at around $4.9 billion. In June 2022, it closed its Series H funding round, raising around $520 million from Google's parent company Alphabet and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings.

In December 2021, ShareChat raised $226 million as part of the same funding round, and was valued at around $3.7 billion at that time.

ShareChat, founded in 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni- Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Singh- was an early player in regional language content. It launched Moj in June 2020, following the TikTok ban, and has seen significant growth in the segment, alongside DailyHunt's Josh. ShareChat and Moj have a combined user base of approximately 340 million.