Chinese MNC ByteDance is planning to set up its Second corporate office in India as it looks forward to strengthen its presence in its biggest market. According to sources aware of the matter, the new entity is expected to provide Information Technology and IT-enabled services to help ByteDance’s platforms across the globe.
The new enterprise is also alleged to contribute to content generation, an issue that the internet technology company has been trying to resolve. ByteDance with a valuation of about $110 billion owns short video sharing platform, TikTok and social media platform Helo apps. Content discovery platform- Toutiao, Chinese version of TikTok- Douyin and Xigua Video are a few other extensions in the firm’s portfolio.
Presently functioning as ByteDance India Services Ltd in the country, it plans to file an application with the government and other regulators including DPIIT. One of the sources involved in the discussions said, “There will be data and technology transfer into India with ByteDance looking to ramp up its workforce in India, a market where the company will look to create a center of excellence over the near-term.”
ByteDance employees over 60,000 and is operating around 15 Research and Development Centers globally as of the data in November 2019. The announcement comes at a point where the company has been questioned for national security risk and handling of data across its various platforms including India.
India is the largest contributor to TikTok’s numbers with 611 million downloads in the country since its inception. The app has been installed 2 billion times globally will date on both App Store and Google Play Store. Last two months though have been quite tough for the firm considering the anti-Chinese approach of consumers and lesser budget for marketing and advertisement.
ByteDance is backed by renowned investors like SoftBank, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital China, KKR and Hillhouse Capital among others.