Koo app user base hits 15-mn mark, looks to fly to foreign lands

After its popularity soared in the wake of the spat between Twitter and the government, homegrown microblogging platform Koo app's user base has touched about 15 million mark. Koo saw a massive growth in its user base when Union ministers and various government departments in India endorsed the app - it is an Indian microblogging platform and an ambitious rival of Twitter. The app's popularity has soared phenomenally with as many as 5 million users added in just the last quarter alone, said co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna.

"We have seen rapid growth. We are making sure that everything that India celebrates, whether it is language or culture, is resonating on Koo... Be it the cricket, politics, movies, spiritual leaders and their following, everything is being celebrated on Koo in their (users') languages," Radhakrishna told PTI.

Even though Koo's popularity in India peaked amid the rift with Twitter, it is now looking to spread its wings to far off lands too.

While Koo will retain its focus on the Indian market, plans are afoot to venture into the Southeast Asian market after June, 2022. "For expansion, we will also experiment with (look at) one country in South East Asia...We have not chosen the country but we will definitely want to enter one more market...in Southeast Asia, in second half of next year," he said.

It is also also available in Nigeria, which it had entered earlier this year. That market "continues to grow", Radhakrishna said and revealed that other African countries too may figure on the expansion list.

"Nigeria has been growing well, organically. We are taking this time to understand the cultural aspects of Nigeria, and it continues to grow", Radhakrishna informed.

Koo's strength is providing its service in local languages. "The premise of entering any market is whether they have significant local language aspect to their community and culture. Those are the countries, that we will enter," Radhakrishna said.

In fact, the main premise on which Koo was launched last year was to allow users to express themselves and engage on the platform in local languages. Koo in fact supports multiple languages including Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, among others. The app was launched by Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka.

Koo will be targetting other areas, apart from the ones mentioned above. Radhakrishna noted that Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were among the markets that Koo will look at. At the moment, Koo is study these markets and will make the final decision based on that.