Kuku, an Indian storytelling platform backed by Google, recently announced it has raised $85 million in a Series C funding round. Kuku is getting a new financial injection to build out its audio and video content library. This is all happening while South Asia’s mobile-first content market is undergoing a massive shift. The new round, led by Granite Asia, has more than doubled Kuku’s valuation to around $500 million.
Founded in 2018, Kuku has achieved impressive success across the Indian content ecosystem. Originally gaining traction with its audiobook service through Kuku FM, the platform now boasts two flagship services: Kuku TV, which presents long-form stories as bite-sized episodes in a vertical format, and Kuku FM, focusing on audio-first shows. With a subscriber base of more than 10 million, Kuku has certainly made its mark in the cutthroat environment.
The subscription model of Kuku includes three tiers: ₹199 (around $2) per month, ₹499 (approximately $6) per quarter, and ₹1,499 (around $17) annually. This innovative pricing strategy has drawn an extraordinarily diverse audience, helping Kuku achieve some truly hyper-growth-esque metrics. By 2025, the platform had received more than 134 million downloads. It produced $1.9 million in downstream consumer spending, showcasing the increasing popularity of its content.
Kuku’s dedication to innovation is reflected in its impactful use of generative AI (GenAI). At the moment, this technology powers 70% to 80% of Kuku’s work. A small but passionate team works around the clock to scan every piece of user-generated content for copyright violations. Photo by Mukul Kumar Lal Chand Bisu, a member of parliament from Kuku, highlighted the efficiency gains from using proprietary data to train AI models.
“We are shifting most of the focus towards our tools because now we have a lot of our own data. We train those models with our own data, and then actually the output is much better than outside tools.” – Lal Chand Bisu
As Kuku grows, it is aware of the threats posed by intellectual property issues to the content creation sphere. Even the platform’s leadership have come under legally dubious attacks that they dismiss as calculated, bad faith moves by competitors to thwart their nascent momentum.
“Every time, whenever we do a fundraise, they [Pocket FM] go into some court and they file a lawsuit. So it’s not the first time,” – Lal Chand Bisu
The program’s new funding will help address these challenges. It will spur innovation of tech that prevents creators from accidentally infringing copyright.
“Some of the money [from this round] will also go toward improving these tools — we plan to invest in technology that can identify when a creator is using someone else’s work,” – Lal Chand Bisu
Kuku makes a serious monetary investment in its creators. To incentivize them, every month, the platform spends an estimated ₹400 million (about $4.5 million) to reward them. This investment further highlights Kuku’s master plan to build a collaborative production powerhouse of storytellers, while delivering original, high-quality content to its subscribers.
With growing competition in the burgeoning South Asian content market, Kuku’s successful funding round liability sets it up for strong growth ahead. From expanding its content Kuku is using technology and investing in new content delivery channels. Perhaps its biggest motivation is to shore up its place in an ever-expanding field.
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