ShareChat eyes up to $400 million IPO next year after turning operationally profitable

MUMBAI: Mohalla Tech Pvt., the parent company of social networking platform ShareChat, short-video app Moj and subscription-based micro-drama platform QuickTV, is planning to raise up to $400 million through an initial public offering (IPO) targeted over the next four to five quarters after achieving operational profitability.

Speaking to Bloomberg News, chief financial officer Manohar Charan said the company became operationally profitable in the first quarter of FY27, marking a significant turnaround after years of cost rationalisation and business restructuring.

“Our unit economics has now turned positive. We will aim to list over the next four or five quarters,” Charan said, while noting that the IPO plans are not yet final and remain subject to change.

The milestone follows a period during which the company reduced costs, laid off employees and moved away from unprofitable product initiatives as venture funding slowed after the pandemic. It also restructured its business model to ensure revenue exceeded the cost of serving each user.

According to Charan, ShareChat’s annual revenue has crossed Rs 1,000 crore and is currently tracking at an annualised run rate of up to Rs 1,400 crore, with revenue growing by more than 30 per cent. The company is backed by investors including Lightspeed and Tiger Global.

A major contributor to the company’s recovery has been the rapid growth of micro-dramas, short-form episodic stories that have emerged as one of India’s fastest-growing digital entertainment formats. Citing data from venture capital firm Lumikai, the company said the segment is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31 per cent, reaching $4.5 billion by 2030.

ShareChat estimates that its platforms currently reach around 65 million monthly micro-drama viewers, representing nearly two-thirds of India’s audience for the format. Users across ShareChat’s platforms consume more than 700 million micro-drama episodes every day.

Together, ShareChat and Moj attract around 150 million monthly active users, while QuickTV has approximately three million subscribers. The platforms have built a strong presence in India’s smaller towns and cities by focusing on regional language content, differentiating themselves from global social media platforms.

Artificial intelligence has also become central to the company’s operations, powering content recommendations, moderation, advertising and personalisation. The company is now expanding its in-house generative AI studio to reduce production costs for micro-dramas, with Charan saying AI could improve operating margins by another 5 to 7 per cent over the next two years.

The planned IPO would mark the next phase of ShareChat’s turnaround strategy, as the company looks to leverage its profitability, expanding micro-drama business and AI-led efficiencies to support long-term growth in India’s digital content ecosystem.