Mitron TV, short video making app has raised Rs 2 crore in a funding round led by 3One4 Capital and Lets Venture Angel. The development comes after Indian Government banned 59 Chinese apps including Tik Tok which had a userbase of 200 million on pretext of data privacy and national security. Notably though the deal is said to be finalized two weeks before the ban.
The anti-China sentiment began to grow after the Galwan Valley Incident where 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in a clash between Indian and Chinese troops. Leading to this the Government imposed ban on Chinese apps accusing them of data theft of Indian users and passing it to different countries. Entrepreneurs in the country are using this as an opportunity to come up with alternatives of the Chinese apps which has also garnered interest of investors.
Mitron was launched in April as a clone of Tik Tok and soon rose to fame with 5 million downloads on Google Play Store within a few days of its launch. Presently, the app has 10 million downloads on Play Store while the company claims that they have 12 million users and two million creators along with 5.5 million videos. The app is now expected to reach 20-25 million users as its biggest competition is out of market.
Not only the concept but the name of the app is one of the biggest reasons of its popularity as ‘Mitron’ is a Hindi word used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speeches. Mitron has also faced backlash when it became famous because of the missing privacy policies and basic details of developer and the company. It was also banned on play store for 4 days but was restored back soon.
Vernacular social media app ShareChat also launched its short video making app Moj. Zee5 too has started HiPi on a similar concept in this period which was expected to roll out in August.