By Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – ShareChat, India’s parent company, has received nearly $300 million from Alphabet (NASDAQ) Inc, Media giant Times Group, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Alphabet (NASDAQ) Inc. The deal talks were reported by Reuters by two people familiar with the discussions. They have valued the social media platform at almost $5 billion.

Sources said that a deal could be made as soon as next week.

Mohalla Tech was ShareChat’s parent company. They did not respond when we asked for comments. Google and Temasek failed to respond immediately to requests for comments, while Reuters was unable immediately reach Times Group.

Google has made this second major investment in India’s video short-form space. It previously supported Josh.

According to one source, Google’s decision to invest in an Indian bear market is a sign of investor interest and the startup’s investment thesis. India’s technology startups have struggled to raise funds, despite raising a record $35Billion in new funds for 2021. Investors are now facing new uncertainties in the global market, and concerns about corporate governance continue to loom large.

After India banned TikTok’s ByteDance in 2020, short video apps such as Moj and Josh soared in popularity following clashes with China.

ShareChat has currently 180 million active monthly users. According to one source, Moj and Mohalla have a combined user base that exceeds 300 million.

ShareChat last received a funding round of $266million from investors Alkeon Capital as well as Temasek, and was valued at $3.7billion. Snap (NYSE;) and Twitter are also among the investors of ShareChat.

According to a source, Musk could have a share of ShareChat between 6 and 8 percent if Tesla (NASDAQ) CEO Elon Musk buys Twitter.