Kuku, an Indian storytelling platform backed by Google, has raised $85 million in contemporary funding because it goals to scale its audio and video content material choices amid intensifying competitors within the South Asian nation’s mobile-first content material market.

The Sequence C spherical, led by Granite Asia (previously GGV Capital), values Kuku at greater than double its earlier valuation to round $500 million, Kuku founder and CEO Lal Chand Bisu confirmed to TechCrunch. The spherical additionally noticed participation from Vertex Progress Fund, Krafton, IFC, Paramark, Tribe Capital India, and Bitkraft.

The most recent spherical additionally included secondary transactions, with a few of Kuku’s early traders partially exiting by promoting their shares to new traders. This consists of Google, which held below a 2% stake and is now exiting completely, Bisu advised TechCrunch.

India, residence to over a billion web subscribers and round 700 million smartphone customers, is experiencing huge development in digital content material consumption, pushed by ultra-low knowledge prices and seamless micropayments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi just lately remarked that 1GB of information in India prices lower than a cup of tea. The nation’s government-backed Unified Funds Interface (UPI) — a system that allows instantaneous digital funds between financial institution accounts — has additionally made digital transactions straightforward and broadly accessible. This mix has made the Indian market engaging to international gamers like Instagram and YouTube, whereas additionally giving native platforms like Kuku a aggressive edge in reaching mass audiences via content material in native Indian languages.

In 2024, digital media overtook tv for the primary time to grow to be the biggest section of India’s media and leisure sector, contributing 32% of whole revenues — ₹802 billion (round $9.13 billion), per an EY report (PDF) launched in March. The report additionally tasks that digital media will develop at a compound annual development charge of 11.2% between 2024 and 2027.

This development potential has prompted gamers like Kuku to experiment with new codecs, together with the just lately popularized microdramas — quick, serialized video tales designed for cellular viewing. The format has caught on throughout Indian startups and even attracted the eye of world platforms, with Meta just lately launching its personal microdrama sequence within the nation aimed toward Gen Z audiences.

Based in 2018, Kuku first gained traction amongst Indian content material customers with its audiobook choices via Kuku FM. Since then, it has expanded its product suite and now operates two flagship platforms: Kuku TV, which presents long-form tales as bite-sized episodes in a vertical format, and Kuku FM, which focuses on audio-first reveals. The platforms present content material in additional than eight Indian languages and have surpassed 10 million paid subscribers, the startup mentioned, up from two million on the time of its final spherical in 2023.

The startup noticed 2X development in its common income per consumer and 10x total development since its final funding, Bisu mentioned, with out disclosing precise monetary figures. He famous that round 80% of its subscribers are from non-metropolitan cities.

Round 60% of Kuku’s subscriber base is male and 40% feminine, Bisu mentioned, including that the majority subscribers are between the ages of 25 and 35.

Kuku presents entry to its platforms via paid subscription plans, together with ₹199 (round $2) per thirty days, ₹499 (about $6) per quarter, and ₹1,499 (roughly $17) per yr. Bisu mentioned that the quarterly plan is the most well-liked amongst customers.

Shoppers spend a median of 100 minutes each day on Kuku’s platforms, the founder mentioned, including that over 90% of the startup’s subscribers stay energetic month over month.

Kuku will get content material via third-party content material creators, and it presently has round 10,000 creators on board. Of them, over 50% are from small cities and non-metro cities, Bisu mentioned. He famous that the startup pays round ₹400 million (roughly $4.5 million) month-to-month to its creators.

The Kuku FM app has led in downloads and shopper spending among the many startup’s portfolio, which incorporates Kuku TV, Kuku Bhakti (a devotional app that includes tales primarily based on Hindu mythology), and StoRizz (targeted on bite-sized microdramas), in accordance with knowledge from Appfigures shared with TechCrunch.

As of September, Kuku had recorded over 229 million whole downloads, together with 122 million for Kuku FM and 88 million for Kuku TV. Kuku’s apps generated greater than $4 million in shopper spending, with $2.8 million from Kuku FM and $1.3 million from Kuku TV, the information from Appfigures reveals.

In 2025 alone, the startup noticed over 134 million downloads — a 533% year-over-year enhance — and $1.9 million in shopper spending, up 156%, per Appfigures knowledge.

Bisu advised TechCrunch that, by way of consumption, Kuku TV is bigger than Kuku FM, accounting for over 60% of whole utilization.

The Bengaluru-based startup has constructed a GenAI studio to streamline content material creation, using AI instruments for multilingual translation and on-demand advert manufacturing. The studio consists of software program from AI corporations together with OpenAI and ElevenLabs, in addition to a few of Kuku’s in-house instruments.

“We’re shifting a lot of the focus in the direction of our instruments, as a result of now we’ve lot of our personal knowledge. We practice these fashions with our personal knowledge, after which truly the output is significantly better than outdoors instruments,” Bisu advised TechCrunch.

The startup doesn’t use GenAI to autonomously produce content material however as an alternative employs it to help creators in growing audio and video tales for its platforms. The instruments assist generate titles, plots, scripts, dialogues, and thumbnails, whereas the precise audio and video manufacturing is completed manually, Bisu mentioned.

He added that 70% to 80% of the work at Kuku is powered by GenAI, with the remaining 20% nonetheless carried out manually.

With out naming particular people, Bisu mentioned that the startup plans to make use of the brand new funding to boost its content material by bringing in celebrities, together with movie and tv personalities.

Nonetheless, Kuku faces stiff competitors from native rivals, most notably Pocket FM, which presents comparable audio and visible storytelling codecs. Pocket FM has filed a number of copyright infringement lawsuits in opposition to Kuku. Most just lately, the Delhi Excessive Courtroom restrained Kuku from releasing new episodes of 5 disputed reveals.

Bisu mentioned that the lawsuits by Pocket FM had been supposed to distract traders. “Each time, each time we do a fundraise, they [Pocket FM] go into some courtroom they usually file a lawsuit. So it’s not the primary time,” Bisu advised TechCrunch.

He added that Kuku has a devoted workforce that manually opinions all uploaded content material to test for copyright violations. The startup has additionally developed instruments to detect whether or not creators are importing copyrighted or third-party content material.

“Among the cash [from this round] may even go towards enhancing these instruments — we plan to put money into expertise that may determine when a creator is utilizing another person’s work,” Bisu mentioned.

In comparison with Pocket FM, Kuku had extra downloads however noticed considerably decrease in-app buy income, Appfigures knowledge reveals. Whereas India accounts for almost all of Kuku’s downloads and earnings, Pocket FM generates 82% of its downloads from India however earns 98% of its income from outdoors the nation, in accordance with Appfigures.

Whereas Kuku noticed important development in each downloads and shopper spending in 2025, Pocket FM skilled a 21% year-over-year decline in downloads to 38 million, however a 61% enhance in shopper spending to $100 million, per Appfigures knowledge.

That mentioned, Kuku plans to make use of its newest funding to boost its AI and knowledge infrastructure, develop its workforce of 150 folks by hiring new expertise in expertise and content material, and deepen creator partnerships and scale in India and past. The startup is already testing its choices within the Center East and the U.S., with plans to scale within the U.S. in 2026.