Short video app Chingari looks to expand into new markets in 2023, ramp up hiring

moneycontrol.com:

Chingari, a short video platform, plans to expand into new global markets in 2023, including Latin America, Africa, and Europe. According to a company executive, the platform also plans to hire at least 400-500 people across its global offices, more than doubling its current headcount of approximately 250 people.

This comes at a time when peers Moj and Josh's parent companies are struggling and have recently laid off employees. Moj's parent company, Mohalla Tech, laid off about 115 people after closing its fantasy gaming vertical, whereas Josh's parent company, VerSe Innovation, laid off 150 people and announced company-wide pay cuts for employees earning more than Rs 10 lakh per year.

Deepak Salvi, co-founder and COO of Chingari, told Moneycontrol that the platform will be hiring for positions in technical, content, and creative teams. For global markets and launches, the Chingari app has been modified to the local language of those regions, and the company will hire local on-the-ground staff in those regions, Salvi said.

In the past 6 to 9 months, Chingari has launched its apps in local languages in the UAE, Indonesia, Turkey, and parts of the US. It is currently scaling teams there and intends to launch promotional campaigns for the application.

“Though next year will be a little lull, we believe in continuing building products, irrespective of whether the market is up or not. So, next year from January onwards, we are focusing on emerging markets plus we are planning to launch in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Africa is the biggest emerging market right now,” Salvi said.

“Also we are trying to hire local people there, so we are targeting hiring more than 400-500 people for these other markets and plus the India market.