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Former Koo Co-founder Mayank Bidawatka’s Billion Hearts Software Technologies Pvt Ltd has secured ~$4 million in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures. The round also saw participation from General Catalyst and Athera Venture Partners. 

The investment is being spearheaded by Karthik Reddy (Partner at Blume Ventures), along with participation from Neeraj Arora (Managing Director at General Catalyst and ex-CBO of WhatsApp) and Rutvik Doshi (Partner at Athera Venture Partners). 

Billion Hearts was founded by Bidawatka in August this year.

“Billion Hearts aims to create digital products for a global user base. The first product is slated for a beta launch in a few months. While the product is still in stealth, it deals with a wide use case that’s relevant for all smartphone users around the world, across age groups. It will use deeptech to solve the problem,” said Karthik Reddy, Partner at Blume Ventures. 

“Mayank has built and scaled multiple large ventures successfully in the past and we’re excited to partner with him once again to see his vision for Billion Hearts come to life,” he added.

This funding follows an earlier angel round of ~$250K from prominent startup builders, including those who have built startups such as redBus, Ola, InMobi, Flipkart, and Myntra.

Neeraj Arora, Managing Director at General Catalyst, said, “We back audacious entrepreneurs building global products with positive powerful impact. Mayank and the Billion Hearts team have insight and a distinctive approach toward building a solution that caters to a wide and unmet need of users globally.”

“Mayank is a proven leader, who has built successful internet ventures in the past. He has a deep passion for creating global products from India. We’re excited to be by his side on this journey.”

Currently, Billion Hearts is developing a digital consumer product aimed at a global market. The product, currently in stealth mode, promises to address a smartphone use case with deeptech solutions. The beta launch is planned in the coming months; thousands of users have already subscribed for early access.

“I’m excited to announce that Billion Hearts is being backed by a set of folks I truly admire. I look forward to bringing happy products to users around the world with a commitment to build world-class products from India,” said Mayank Bidawatka, Founder of Billion Hearts.

“While our product is still in stealth, I’d like to say that almost everyone with a smartphone will want this product, with no exception. Thousands of enthusiasts have already subscribed for our beta. We’ll soon announce something special for all those who sign up for early access,” he added.

Koo, which was built as an homegrown alternative to Twitter (now X), ceased operations in July this year after its acquisition talks with media company DailyHunt fell through. Bidawatka and his former co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna announced that the platform would be winding down due to the unsuccessful negotiations.

Prior to Koo, Bidawatka co-founded Goodbox in August 2015 and Media Ant in June 2012. He was also part of the core founding team at redBus in 2007.