India’s storytelling powerhouse Kuku has secured $85 million in fresh funding to strengthen its fast-growing audio and video platforms. The Series C round, led by Granite Asia (formerly GGV Capital), values the company at roughly $500 million, more than double its previous valuation. Other investors include Vertex Growth Fund, Krafton, IFC, Paramark, Tribe Capital India, and Bitkraft, signaling strong confidence in Kuku’s potential to dominate the country’s mobile-first content space.
Some of Kuku’s early backers partially exited in the deal, with Google among those selling its small stake. The move highlights how far Kuku has come since its early days as a regional audio platform, now evolving into one of India’s most recognized names in mobile entertainment.
India’s digital content ecosystem is exploding. With over a billion internet users and 700 million smartphone owners, the country has become a playground for creators and platforms alike. Cheap data and seamless micropayments through India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have turned mobile content into an everyday habit. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi once noted, 1GB of data in India costs less than a cup of tea, a simple truth that underscores the accessibility fueling this digital revolution.
According to a March 2024 report from EY, digital media surpassed television for the first time, making up 32% of India’s media and entertainment revenue, equivalent to about ₹802 billion ($9.13 billion). That share is expected to keep climbing at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% through 2027. This rapid expansion has pushed companies like Kuku to explore new storytelling formats to capture audiences glued to their phones.
Founded in 2018, Kuku started with a focus on audiobooks and spoken-word stories through its Kuku FM app. The platform’s early success helped it carve a niche in India’s vast content landscape, where regional languages and localized storytelling have always held strong cultural value.
Over the years, Kuku has expanded into a full-fledged storytelling ecosystem. Today, it operates multiple platforms, including Kuku TV, which offers short, vertical video dramas, and Kuku FM, which remains an audio-first favorite. Its newest ventures include Kuku Bhakti, a devotional app rooted in Hindu mythology, and StoRizz, focused on microdramas for mobile viewers.
Together, these platforms offer content in eight Indian languages and attract millions of paying users across small towns and metro cities alike. Kuku’s subscriber base has ballooned to over 10 million paid users, up from just two million in 2023. Most of its audience comes from non-metro regions, where smartphones have opened the door to affordable entertainment.
The company’s pricing remains accessible, with plans starting at ₹199 ($2) per month and going up to ₹1,499 ($17) annually. The quarterly plan, priced at ₹499, is the most popular. On average, users spend around 100 minutes daily across Kuku’s apps, with over 90% monthly retention, a metric that most content platforms can only envy.
Kuku’s rapid rise isn’t just about volume, but also about innovation. The company has built a GenAI-powered studio that assists creators with multilingual translation, ad production, and even story development. Using a mix of software from OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and its own in-house tools, Kuku helps creators generate titles, plots, dialogues, and thumbnails. The creative process remains human-led, but AI has become the quiet force accelerating production.
Founder and CEO Lal Chand Bisu says about 70%–80% of Kuku’s content creation is now assisted by AI, while the rest is crafted manually. This hybrid approach keeps storytelling authentic while improving efficiency, allowing Kuku to publish at scale without losing its human touch.
The company also pays significant attention to creator growth. More than 10,000 creators now contribute to its ecosystem, with over half hailing from small towns. Kuku distributes around ₹400 million ($4.5 million) each month to its creators, reinforcing its commitment to fair compensation and community-building.
As competition heats up, Pocket FM remains Kuku’s biggest rival. Both platforms share a similar focus on serialized audio and video storytelling, but their strategies diverge. While Kuku dominates in downloads, recording over 229 million app installs across its platforms, Pocket FM leads in monetization, generating $100 million in consumer spending last year.
App analytics from Appfigures show that Kuku FM alone has surpassed 122 million downloads, while Kuku TV accounts for another 88 million. Combined, Kuku’s apps generated more than $4 million in consumer spending in 2025, representing a 156% year-over-year increase. The surge in downloads — up 533% — shows growing interest in local and mobile-first storytelling.
Despite Pocket FM filing multiple copyright lawsuits against Kuku, Bisu insists the disputes have little effect on its growth. He says the company has a dedicated compliance team that manually reviews all uploaded material for potential violations. Kuku has also built proprietary detection tools to flag any third-party or copyrighted content uploaded by creators.
A portion of the new funding will go toward improving these technologies and expanding its internal compliance systems. “We plan to invest more in tools that can detect when a creator uses someone else’s work,” Bisu said.
The Bengaluru-based startup plans to use its fresh capital to expand its AI infrastructure, grow its workforce, and deepen creator partnerships. Kuku currently employs about 150 people and is preparing to bring on new talent in engineering, storytelling, and marketing. It also plans to integrate more celebrities, including popular film and television personalities, to enhance its storytelling appeal.
Kuku’s next frontier lies beyond India. The startup has already begun testing its content in the Middle East and the United States, with a full-scale international rollout planned for 2026. By adapting local languages and cultural nuances, Kuku hopes to recreate its Indian success story on a global stage.
As India’s appetite for digital entertainment continues to grow, Kuku’s mix of AI-powered creation tools, regional storytelling, and creator-first economics positions it as a key player in shaping how the next billion users consume stories online. In an era when attention is the ultimate currency, Kuku’s success story is only just beginning.
