New Delhi: Chingari short video app unveiled its very first crypto token “$ GARI” on Saturday, which is launching its own NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace. During the opening event, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was present along with actress Vaani Kapoor.
The company recently completed a $ 19 million financing round from more than 30 venture funds and individual investors. With the funds raised, the company will develop features that enable creators to monetize and increase the utility of the Gari token in interesting social media use cases.
The largest companies that participated in the financing round included Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Kraken Ventures, Blackpine, NGC, Coinfund, LD Capital, 11-11 Ventures, AU21, Cultur3 Capital , Long Term Ventures, Afton Capital, and CSP DAO, among others.
“With the vision of establishing ‘Social Tokens’ as the future of community platforms, $ GARI aims to transform the Indian subcontinent’s creator ecosystem by allowing creators to set up their e-commerce space, the physical one Merchandise, NFT creations and the ability to include for the fan base to fund their favorite artists, “Sumit Ghosh, chief executive officer and co-founder of Chingari, said in a statement.
Chingari was founded in November 2018 and offers users, among other things, the opportunity to download and upload short videos and to buy merchandise within the app. Bengaluru-based rival Instagram Reels, MX Takatak, Josh and Moj boasts 50 million monthly active users and 85 million downloads to date, and the co-founders are confident it will be India’s fastest growing “social token app”.
Since its redesign in June 2020, Chingari has worked to fill the vacuum created by the TikTok ban in India. Since then, the number of Chingari users is said to have grown exponentially.
