Koo on Wednesday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telangana government to open a development centre in the state. The multi-lingual social media platform envisions its presence in the region to grow in a significant manner as Hyderabad is an IT hub, boasting access to a robust technology ecosystem and a large pool of IT talent, it said in a release. As part of the MoU, the Telangana government will work jointly with Koo on the use of Telugu to increase reach among non-English speakers in the state.

The collaboration will also promote the rich legacy and heritage of Telugu as a language, in addition to the unique culture of Telangana, the company said.

The development centre will tap into local talent and promote synergies with stakeholders in the state, it added.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said, “By collaborating with Koo, we are hopeful that our efforts to connect and engage with citizens for disseminating information and services of Telangana government will be augmented further.”

Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Koo, said, “Language-based social media is the need of the hour, especially in a multi-lingual country like India. We are truly honoured and privileged to collaborate with the Telangana government to further our cause of empowering voices with digital freedom of expression. The development centre in Hyderabad will be a key enabler in this mission.”

Koo, a multi-lingual, micro-blogging platform was launched in March 2020 and currently it is available in 10 languages. The platform also offers a translation feature which enables real-time translation of a post across supported languages, while retaining the sentiment and context of the original text, the release said.