Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of the vernacular microblogging platform Koo, has officially closed a pre-seed funding round for his latest venture, Billion Hearts Software Technologies.
The Bengaluru-based startup raised approximately $250K from a prominent group of angel investors, including founders of redBus, Ola, InMobi, Myntra, and other major industry players.
Bidawatka is seeking to raise an additional $500,000 to kickstart Billion Hearts’ operations.
According to filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the company has already issued 39 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to secure Rs 1.94 crore ($250K), and the board has approved raising a total of Rs 4.13 crore.
Valuations for Billion Hearts are projected to reach Rs 70.5 crore ($8.5 million) following the funding round. The company has also launched an employee stock option plan (ESOP) valued at Rs 16.5 crore.
Reflecting on the name of his new venture, Bidawatka shared on LinkedIn: “Billion Hearts as a name represents the dreams of many. And hopefully the usage of billions of users around the world for whom this startup will build beautiful digital products.”
Journey from Koo to Billion Hearts
Koo, a microblogging platform co-founded by Bidawatka and Aprameya Radhakrishna in 2020, gained widespread attention as India’s answer to Twitter. The app won the government’s Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge but was shuttered in July 2023 after failed acquisition and merger talks.
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Founded in 2018, Redcliffe Labs was built on the mission of making quality healthcare accessible to everyone in India.
Now, with Billion Hearts, Bidawatka aims to develop cutting-edge digital products for a global market.
The company plans to release its first product by year-end, with a beta version exclusively available to early registrants.
