Kuku, an Indian storytelling platform backed by Google, has raised $85 million in fresh funding as it aims to scale its audio and video content offerings amid intensifying competition in the South Asian nation’s mobile-first content market.
The Series C round, led by Granite Asia (formerly GGV Capital), values Kuku at more than double its previous valuation to around $500 million, Kuku founder and CEO Lal Chand Bisu confirmed to TechCrunch. The round also saw participation from Vertex Growth Fund, Krafton, IFC, Paramark, Tribe Capital India, and Bitkraft.
The latest round also included secondary transactions, with some of Kuku’s early investors partially exiting by selling their shares to new investors. This includes Google, which held under a 2% stake and is now exiting entirely, Bisu told TechCrunch.
India, home to over a billion internet subscribers and around 700 million smartphone users, is experiencing massive growth in digital content consumption, driven by ultra-low data costs and seamless micropayments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently remarked that 1GB of data in India costs less than a cup of tea. The country’s government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — a system that enables instant digital payments between bank accounts — has also made digital transactions easy and widely accessible. This combination has made the Indian market attractive to global players like Instagram and YouTube, while also giving local platforms like Kuku a competitive edge in reaching mass audiences through content in local Indian languages.
In 2024, digital media overtook television for the first time to become the largest segment of India’s media and entertainment sector, contributing 32% of total revenues — ₹802 billion (around $9.13 billion), per an EY report (PDF) released in March. The report also projects that digital media will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% between 2024 and 2027.
This growth potential has prompted players like Kuku to experiment with new formats, including the recently popularized microdramas — short, serialized video stories designed for mobile viewing. The format has caught on across Indian startups and even attracted the attention of global platforms, with Meta recently launching its own microdrama series in the country aimed at Gen Z audiences.
Founded in 2018, Kuku first gained traction among Indian content consumers with its audiobook offerings through Kuku FM. Since then, it has expanded its product suite and now operates two flagship platforms: Kuku TV, which presents long-form stories as bite-sized episodes in a vertical format, and Kuku FM, which focuses on audio-first shows. The platforms provide content in more than eight Indian languages and have surpassed 10 million paid subscribers, the startup said, up from two million at the time of its last round in 2023.
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The startup saw 2X growth in its average revenue per user and 10x overall growth since its last funding, Bisu said, without disclosing actual financial figures. He noted that around 80% of its subscribers are from non-metropolitan cities.
Around 60% of Kuku’s subscriber base is male and 40% female, Bisu said, adding that most subscribers are between the ages of 25 and 35.
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