India’s Kuku snags $85M as mobile content wars intensify

Kuku, an Indian storytelling level backed by Google, has raised $85 cardinal successful caller backing arsenic it aims to standard its audio and video contented offerings amid intensifying contention successful the South Asian nation’s mobile-first contented market.

The Series C round, led by Granite Asia (formerly GGV Capital), values Kuku astatine much than treble its erstwhile valuation to astir $500 million, Kuku laminitis and CEO Lal Chand Bisu confirmed to TechCrunch. The circular besides saw information from Vertex Growth Fund, Krafton, IFC, Paramark, Tribe Capital India, and Bitkraft.

The latest circular besides included secondary transactions, with immoderate of Kuku’s aboriginal investors partially exiting by selling their shares to caller investors. This includes Google, which held nether a 2% involvement and is present exiting entirely, Bisu told TechCrunch.

India, location to implicit a cardinal net subscribers and astir 700 cardinal smartphone users, is experiencing monolithic maturation successful integer contented consumption, driven by ultra-low information costs and seamless micropayments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi precocious remarked that 1GB of information successful India costs little than a cupful of tea. The country’s government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — a strategy that enables instant integer payments betwixt slope accounts — has besides made integer transactions casual and wide accessible. This operation has made the Indian marketplace charismatic to planetary players similar Instagram and YouTube, portion besides giving section platforms similar Kuku a competitory borderline successful reaching wide audiences done contented successful section Indian languages.

In 2024, integer media overtook tv for the archetypal clip to go the largest conception of India’s media and amusement sector, contributing 32% of full revenues — ₹802 cardinal (around $9.13 billion), per an EY report (PDF) released successful March. The study besides projects that integer media volition turn astatine a compound yearly maturation complaint of 11.2% betwixt 2024 and 2027.

This maturation imaginable has prompted players similar Kuku to experimentation with caller formats, including the precocious popularized microdramas — short, serialized video stories designed for mobile viewing. The format has caught connected crossed Indian startups and even attracted the attraction of planetary platforms, with Meta recently launching its ain microdrama series successful the state aimed astatine Gen Z audiences.

Founded successful 2018, Kuku archetypal gained traction among Indian contented consumers with its audiobook offerings done Kuku FM. Since then, it has expanded its merchandise suite and present operates 2 flagship platforms: Kuku TV, which presents long-form stories arsenic bite-sized episodes successful a vertical format, and Kuku FM, which focuses connected audio-first shows. The platforms supply contented successful much than 8 Indian languages and person surpassed 10 cardinal paid subscribers, the startup said, up from 2 cardinal astatine the clip of its past circular successful 2023.

The startup saw 2X maturation successful its mean gross per idiosyncratic and 10x wide maturation since its past funding, Bisu said, without disclosing existent fiscal figures. He noted that astir 80% of its subscribers are from non-metropolitan cities.

Around 60% of Kuku’s subscriber basal is antheral and 40% female, Bisu said, adding that astir subscribers are betwixt the ages of 25 and 35.

Kuku offers entree to its platforms done paid subscription plans, including ₹199 (around $2) per month, ₹499 (about $6) per quarter, and ₹1,499 (approximately $17) per year. Bisu said that the quarterly program is the astir fashionable among users.

Consumers walk an mean of 100 minutes regular connected Kuku’s platforms, the laminitis said, adding that implicit 90% of the startup’s subscribers stay progressive period implicit month.

Kuku gets contented done third-party contented creators, and it presently has astir 10,000 creators connected board. Of them, implicit 50% are from tiny towns and non-metro cities, Bisu said. He noted that the startup pays astir ₹400 cardinal (roughly $4.5 million) monthly to its creators.

The Kuku FM app has led successful downloads and user spending among the startup’s portfolio, which includes Kuku TV, Kuku Bhakti (a devotional app featuring stories based connected Hindu mythology), and StoRizz (focused connected bite-sized microdramas), according to information from Appfigures shared with TechCrunch.

As of September, Kuku had recorded implicit 229 cardinal full downloads, including 122 cardinal for Kuku FM and 88 cardinal for Kuku TV. Kuku’s apps generated much than $4 cardinal successful user spending, with $2.8 cardinal from Kuku FM and $1.3 cardinal from Kuku TV, the information from Appfigures shows.

In 2025 alone, the startup saw implicit 134 cardinal downloads — a 533% year-over-year summation — and $1.9 cardinal successful user spending, up 156%, per Appfigures data.

Bisu told TechCrunch that, successful presumption of consumption, Kuku TV is larger than Kuku FM, accounting for implicit 60% of full usage.

The Bengaluru-based startup has built a GenAI workplace to streamline contented creation, employing AI tools for multilingual translation and on-demand advertisement production. The workplace includes bundle from AI companies including OpenAI and ElevenLabs, arsenic good arsenic immoderate of Kuku’s in-house tools.

“We are shifting astir of the absorption towards our tools, due to the fact that present we person batch of our ain data. We bid those models with our ain data, and past really the output is overmuch amended than extracurricular tools,” Bisu told TechCrunch.

The startup does not usage GenAI to autonomously nutrient contented but alternatively employs it to assistance creators successful processing audio and video stories for its platforms. The tools assistance make titles, plots, scripts, dialogues, and thumbnails, portion the existent audio and video accumulation is done manually, Bisu said.

He added that 70% to 80% of the enactment astatine Kuku is powered by GenAI, with the remaining 20% inactive done manually.

Without naming circumstantial individuals, Bisu said that the startup plans to usage the caller backing to heighten its contented by bringing successful celebrities, including movie and tv personalities.

Still, Kuku faces stiff contention from section rivals, astir notably Pocket FM, which offers akin audio and ocular storytelling formats. Pocket FM has filed aggregate copyright infringement lawsuits against Kuku. Most recently, the Delhi High Court restrained Kuku from releasing caller episodes of 5 disputed shows.

Bisu said that the lawsuits by Pocket FM were intended to distract investors. “Every time, whenever we bash a fundraise, they [Pocket FM] spell into immoderate tribunal and they record a lawsuit. So it’s not the archetypal time,” Bisu told TechCrunch.

He added that Kuku has a dedicated squad that manually reviews each uploaded contented to cheque for copyright violations. The startup has besides developed tools to observe whether creators are uploading copyrighted oregon third-party content.

“Some of the wealth [from this round] volition besides spell toward improving these tools — we program to put successful exertion that tin place erstwhile a creator is utilizing idiosyncratic else’s work,” Bisu said.

Compared to Pocket FM, Kuku had much downloads but saw importantly little in-app acquisition revenue, Appfigures information shows. While India accounts for the bulk of Kuku’s downloads and earnings, Pocket FM generates 82% of its downloads from India but earns 98% of its gross from extracurricular the country, according to Appfigures.

Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch

While Kuku saw important maturation successful some downloads and user spending successful 2025, Pocket FM experienced a 21% year-over-year diminution successful downloads to 38 million, but a 61% summation successful user spending to $100 million, per Appfigures data.

That said, Kuku plans to usage its latest backing to heighten its AI and information infrastructure, grow its workforce of 150 radical by hiring caller endowment successful exertion and content, and deepen creator partnerships and standard successful India and beyond. The startup is already investigating its offerings successful the Middle East and the U.S., with plans to standard successful the U.S. successful 2026.