Josh gains $100 Million funding from Google and Microsoft

Josh, Indian TikTok Clone has raised more than $100 million from investors including Google and Microsoft, months after the Chinese-owned short-video app was banned in the country.

Bengaluru-based VerSe Innovation, which owns Josh, is valued at more than $1 billion following the investment, it said in a statement. AlphaWave also invested in VerSe, as did existing investors Sofina Group and Lupa Systems, VerSe said, adding that it would use the funds to scale up Josh. VerSe also owns news and content platform Dailyhunt.

In September, Indian content-sharing platform ShareChat raised $40 million from investors including Twitter Inc and Lightspeed Ventures, in an effort to drive growth for its new short-video app Moj.

Both Josh and Moj have been installed on more than 50 million devices each, according to data from Google's Play Store.

Separately on Tuesday, Indian ad technology firm InMobi's Glance, which runs an eponymous lock-screen content app and short-video platform Roposo, said it had raised $145 million from Google and existing investor Mithril Capital.