At the moment, the new project is working undercover and is expected to launch in several months.
Past this, Bidawatka mentioned that the fledgling project has successfully obtained early backing from a number of its friends and founders in the prominent consumer tech sector.
This follows Bidawatka’s earlier mention of returning earlier in the year, with a new venture in consumer tech just a year away from him, “kind of.” He reported having a group of seven members dedicated to the concept at that point.
A year and a half after shutting down its microblogging service Koo due to extended talks about acquiring it falling apart, its creator Mayank Bidawat has revealed the start of a new company, Billion Hearts Software Technologies, aimed at creating consumer items for worldwide customers.
On LinkedIn, Bidawatka mentioned, “The name Billion Hearts symbolizes the aspirations of numerous people. And our hope is that through the involvement of billions of users globally, whom this startup aims to create stunning digital offerings for.”
At present, the fresh initiative is functioning covertly and is set to launch in the next few months.
Recently, Bidawatka shared in a comment that the startup has successfully obtained early-stage investment from a number of prominent entrepreneur acquaintances in the leading tech for consumer goods sector. He mentioned, too, that he is engaged in discussions with several established venture capitalists regarding potential investments for the startup’s growth.
This follows Bidawatka’s suggestion of a return in earlier months, with a fresh consumer tech business that was near and dear to him for quite some time. He shared that at that point, he was overseeing a group of seven members dedicated to the project.
Bidawatka initiated Koo in 2020, but unfortunately, the business failed to achieve success in the Indian market. During the financial period 2021-2022 (FY22), the business disclosed earnings of INR 14 lakh, but incurred losses of INR 197 Cr.
In July, the business ceased operations because negotiations for a buyout with DailyHunt fell through.
Just this month, Inc42 disclosed that Koo ceased handing out wages to all its staff beginning in April, due to economic difficulties. The company also reduced its workforce by 90%, going from 200 employees in 2022 to 80 by 2024.
The poor financial performance also led to the firm being unable to secure its Series C funding.
In a statement on LinkedIn, Bidawatka mentioned that Koo suffered from a ‘long-lasting financial downturn.’ He also went on to state that the company found itself in an unfavorable market situation, necessitating a shift from expansion to focusing on income generation.