Is Arratai a WhatsApp wannabe or a serious contender? – The Economic Times

Chennai-born messaging app Arattai — meaning ‘chat’ in Tamil — from Zoho has become the latest social media buzzword, recording a 100X surge in traffic in a few days. Launched in 2021, Arattai isn’t new. But it went viral only this week after senior government ministers endorsed it and India’s startup and venture capital community quickly adopted it. India’s track record with homegrown digital products is mixed, raising questions about whether Arattai can scale. “Why (domestic) software products don’t pick up is because there’s a fascination for foreign consumer tech’’, said Siddarth Pai, founding partner at early-stage venture capital firm 3one4 Capital. “More than features, what’s going to be critical for Arattai is getting the network effect correct. For any messaging app, that depends on the number of people signing up as well as the engagement on the platform’’, he added. 3one4 Capital had backed Koo, India’s purported answer to Twitter (now X), which claimed 10 million monthly users before shutting down after struggling to raise funds. “Mass adoption is mandatory for a messaging app, and will happen only in case of a disruption’’, said Anand Lunia, founding partner, India Quotient. “Until then, Arattai can focus on building tools, and
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