Kuku, an Indian storytelling service supported by Google, has secured $85 million in new investment as it looks to expand its audio and video content portfolio in the face of growing competition in India’s mobile-centric content industry.
The Series C funding, led by Granite Asia (previously GGV Capital), has pushed Kuku’s valuation to roughly $500 million—more than double its last valuation—according to founder and CEO Lal Chand Bisu, who spoke with TechCrunch. Other investors in this round include Vertex Growth Fund, Krafton, IFC, Paramark, Tribe Capital India, and Bitkraft.
This latest investment round also involved secondary share sales, allowing some early Kuku backers to partially cash out by selling shares to new investors. Among them was Google, which previously owned less than 2% and has now fully exited, Bisu told TechCrunch.
India, with over a billion internet users and about 700 million smartphone owners, is witnessing a surge in digital content usage, fueled by extremely affordable data and easy micropayments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently noted that 1GB of data in India is cheaper than a cup of tea. The government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which enables instant digital transfers between bank accounts, has further simplified and popularized digital payments. These factors have made India an appealing market for global giants like Instagram and YouTube, while also empowering local companies like Kuku to reach vast audiences with content in regional languages.
In 2024, digital media surpassed television for the first time to become the largest segment in India’s media and entertainment industry, making up 32% of total revenue—₹802 billion (about $9.13 billion), according to an EY report (PDF) published in March. The report also forecasts that digital media will grow at an annual rate of 11.2% from 2024 to 2027.
This promising outlook has encouraged companies like Kuku to try out new formats, such as microdramas—short, serialized video stories tailored for mobile users. This format has gained traction among Indian startups and has even drawn interest from international platforms, with Meta recently launching its own microdrama series in India targeting Gen Z viewers.
Launched in 2018, Kuku initially attracted Indian audiences with its audiobook platform, Kuku FM. Since then, it has broadened its offerings and now runs two main platforms: Kuku TV, which delivers long stories in short, vertical episodes, and Kuku FM, which specializes in audio-based shows. These platforms offer content in over eight Indian languages and have surpassed 10 million paying users, up from two million during the previous funding round in 2023, according to the company.
Since its last funding, Kuku has doubled its average revenue per user and grown tenfold overall, Bisu said, though he did not share specific numbers. He mentioned that about 80% of subscribers come from smaller cities and towns.
Bisu also shared that Kuku’s user base is about 60% male and 40% female, with most subscribers aged between 25 and 35.
Kuku’s services are available through paid subscriptions: ₹199 (about $2) monthly, ₹499 (roughly $6) quarterly, and ₹1,499 (around $17) annually. The quarterly plan is the most favored among users, Bisu said.
On average, users spend about 100 minutes daily on Kuku’s platforms, with more than 90% of subscribers remaining active each month, according to the founder.
Kuku sources its content from external creators and currently works with around 10,000 of them. Over half of these creators are based in smaller towns and non-metro areas, Bisu said. The company pays its creators about ₹400 million (approximately $4.5 million) every month.
Appfigures data provided to TechCrunch shows that Kuku FM leads in downloads and user spending among the company’s products, which include Kuku TV, Kuku Bhakti (a devotional app with Hindu mythology stories), and StoRizz (focused on microdramas).
By September, Kuku’s apps had been downloaded over 229 million times, with Kuku FM accounting for 122 million and Kuku TV for 88 million. The apps generated over $4 million in user spending—$2.8 million from Kuku FM and $1.3 million from Kuku TV, according to Appfigures.
In 2025 alone, Kuku recorded more than 134 million downloads—a 533% increase from the previous year—and $1.9 million in user spending, up 156%, based on Appfigures data.
Bisu told TechCrunch that Kuku TV now surpasses Kuku FM in terms of content consumption, making up over 60% of total usage.
Based in Bengaluru, the startup has developed a GenAI studio to simplify content production, using AI for multilingual translation and on-demand ad creation. The studio incorporates software from AI firms like OpenAI and ElevenLabs, along with Kuku’s proprietary tools.
“We’re now focusing more on our own tools, as we have a significant amount of proprietary data. By training our models with this data, the results are superior to external solutions,” Bisu explained to TechCrunch.
Rather than using GenAI to fully automate content creation, Kuku leverages these tools to support creators in developing audio and video stories. The AI assists with generating titles, storylines, scripts, dialogues, and thumbnails, while the actual production of audio and video remains manual, Bisu said.
He noted that GenAI powers between 70% and 80% of Kuku’s workflow, with the rest still handled by people.
While not naming anyone specifically, Bisu mentioned that the new funding will be used to enhance content by bringing in celebrities from film and television.
Despite its growth, Kuku faces tough competition from domestic rivals, especially Pocket FM, which also offers audio and video storytelling. Pocket FM has filed several copyright lawsuits against Kuku, and the Delhi High Court recently barred Kuku from releasing new episodes of five contested shows.
Bisu claimed that Pocket FM’s lawsuits are meant to distract investors. “Each time we raise funds, they [Pocket FM] file a case in court. This isn’t the first instance,” he told TechCrunch.
He added that Kuku has a dedicated team that manually checks all uploaded content for copyright issues, and the company has also created tools to detect if creators are submitting copyrighted or third-party material.
“A portion of this funding will go toward enhancing these detection tools—we intend to invest in technology that can spot when a creator is using someone else’s intellectual property,” Bisu said.
Appfigures data shows that Kuku has achieved more downloads than Pocket FM, but its in-app purchase revenue is much lower. While most of Kuku’s downloads and earnings come from India, Pocket FM gets 82% of its downloads from India but earns 98% of its revenue from international markets, according to Appfigures.
Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch
While Kuku experienced strong growth in downloads and user spending in 2025, Pocket FM saw its downloads drop by 21% to 38 million, but its user spending rose 61% to $100 million, according to Appfigures.
Looking ahead, Kuku intends to use its recent funding to strengthen its AI and data capabilities, grow its 150-person team by hiring more talent in tech and content, deepen partnerships with creators, and expand both within India and internationally. The company is already piloting its services in the Middle East and the U.S., with plans to scale up in the U.S. in 2026.
