The parent company of India’s ShareChat, Mohalla Tech has raised about $ 300 million in funding round from Alphabet Inc's Google, media giant Times Group and Singapore's Temasek Holdings, valuing the social media firm at nearly five billion.

Reports suggest that the deal is set to be announced in the next week.

This is Google's second key investment in India's short video space, having previously backed Josh, which competes with ShareChat's sister firm Moj.

Google's investment in a bearish market for Indian start-ups shows the appetite for the short video sector and the start-up's investment thesis. India's tech startups, which raised a record $35 billion in new funds in 2021, have been struggling to raise funds as corporate governance concerns loom large for investors facing a new uncertainty in global markets.

Short video apps like Moj and Josh shot up in popularity after India in 2020 banned ByteDance's TikTok and some other Chinese apps following a border clash with China.

According to reports, ShareChat currently has 180 million monthly active users. Moj, along with Mohalla's recently acquired MX TakaTak, has a combined user base of 300 million.

If the bid by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to buy Twitter goes through, Musk will have potentially a stake of between six percent and eight percent in ShareChat.

ShareChat was last valued at $3.7 billion in a $266 million funding round from investors including Alkeon Capital and Temasek.

ShareChat, is an Indian video-sharing Social networking service, developed by Mohalla Tech Private Limited in the year 2015 founded by Ankush Sachdeva. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and presently employs close to 180 people as of 2019.