Kuku FM Secures $25 Million Funding Led by Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership and IFC

• ByStartupStory     |    September 20, 2023

Audio content platform Kuku FM has secured $25 million in Series C funding, with Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as co-leaders of the investment round. This funding signals a growing interest among investors in the digital audio content sector.

This latest investment comes approximately a year after Kuku FM raised $21.9 million in financing, primarily led by Fundamentum Partnership. Notable investors in the company include Google, Paramark, Krafton, 3one4 Capital, V Cube Ventures, India Quotient, and FounderBank Capital. To date, the startup has amassed around $72 million in funding.

Kuku FM plans to utilize these funds to further strengthen its content ecosystem, expand the breadth of content across various Indian languages, and make substantial investments in technology.

Wendy Werner, IFC’s India Country Head, commented, “India’s creative industries have the potential to reach diverse populations and unlock income opportunities at scale. Our partnership with Kuku FM aligns with our shared gender and inclusion priorities and aims to empower underrepresented voices, especially those of women, fostering upward mobility and sustainable economic growth.”

Prateek Jain, Principal at Fundamentum Partnership, emphasized that Kuku FM has created a “niche category that caters to the unique and rapidly evolving demands of the new digital natives of India.”

Established in 2018 by Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Meena, and Vikas Goyal, Kuku FM offers content creation tools to its users, enabling them to create, develop, and share content. Currently, the platform boasts more than 30,000 creators and over 2.5 million active paid subscribers.

Kuku FM provides a diverse range of content, with over 150,000 hours available in seven Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The majority of this content is exclusive to the platform and spans various genres, encompassing fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, personal finance, self-help education titles, entertainment, news, mythology, spirituality, learning, and inspirational content, among others.

Lal Chand Bisu, Co-founder of Kuku FM, expressed, “In our journey towards building a business model focused on Bharat 2.0 segment and creating a sustainable business model with a clear path to profitability, Fundamentum team’s insights and support have been invaluable. We look forward to leveraging IFC’s valuable experience and expertise in scaling up Kuku FM’s business.”

Co-founder Vinod Kumar Meena reaffirmed the company’s commitment to providing “sustainable livelihood opportunities” for creators in India and aims to build a network of creators that reflects its diverse listener community.

It’s notable that rival Pocket FM also secured $65 million in Series C funding in March 2022, led by Goodwater Capital, South Korean internet giant Naver, and existing investor Tanglin Venture Partners.

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