Koo app is apolitical platform, we have no political lineage, says co-founder

The co-founder of Indian microblogging app 'Koo' has said that the platform, which is aiming to become an alternative to Twitter, is apolitical and its policies and systems do not understand any Left or Right policies. Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder of Koo app, told ANI that the system identifies every individual as a unique user and the effort is to give the best user experience. Our system and policies don't understand left or right. The system identifies every individual as a unique user and we as a platform have to serve all to the best of our capabilities and give the best user experience. Me or Mayank as co-founders of Koo, have no political lineage. That way we are totally apolitical, he said. He said that the Koo app is for every Indian citizen and who follows Indian law. We are driving the platform for every Indian and like every citizen and as an Indian company, we are bound by Indian law and the Constitution of India. Like the principle of our Constitution, we also believe in making it an 'of the people, by the people and for the people' platform, he said. Asked about Chinese investment in his start-up, Aprameya Radhakrishna said Koo is totally Aatmanirbhar app. He said Indian entrepreneurs invest in Koo, a set of Indian entrepreneurs are investing in Koo with Ashish Hemrajani from BookMyShow, Vivekananda from Bounce, Nikhil Kamat of Zerodha amongst various others entering the cap table of the company. It is a clear indication that the company is getting more and more Indian money into the company. Aprameya Radhakrishna said a Chinese company that invested in a previous start-up will be exiting soon. The recent investment of $4.1 million in Bombinate Technologies - Koo's parent company was led by 3one4 Capital, an Indian investor. Shunwei had not participated in the latest round of funding. About two-and-a-half years ago, Shunwei, which had invested in the company for the earlier product Vokal which answers user questions in Indian languages, will be exiting fully with the new investors buying their stake. They will exit. Existing investors including 3one4 Capital, Kalaari, and others will also be buying out some of the stakes. Koo is a fully Aatmanirbhar app with Indian founders and India registration, he said. Asked about reports about Koo not being fully secure and possibility of leak or hacking of user information following remarks of a French cybersecurity researcher, he said, Ninety-five per cent of Koo users log in through their mobile phone number, language communities of India do not use email to log in and hence was not the priority of the company. Email login was introduced recently. Now that concerns have been raised it has already been blocked from view. The data he claims visible is something that the user has voluntarily shown on their profile of Koo. It cannot be termed a data leak. If you visit a user profile you can see it anyway, Aprameya Radhakrishna said. We are just a 10-month-old platform and this sudden surge in our visibility and user base was unexpected. We are improving our platform day by day. All these technical issues are not something that cannot to dealt with or improved, he added. Several political leaders and celebrities, including Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, Devegowda, HD Kumaraswamy, Priyank Kharge have joined Koo. Aprameya Radhakrishna said he is hopeful that in the coming days, personalities across the political spectrum will join Koo to connect with their regional audience.

Source: Business World