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Almost a year before, Audio streaming platform Kuku FM raised $21.8 million in funding to expand its catalogue and strengthen its position in the market where Pocket FM is rapidly scaling its operations.
The startup has again announced a new round of funding worth $25 million to bolster its content ecosystem and increase the depth of content across other Indian languages.
Who are the investors in the round?
The new Series C round was co-led by Nandan Nilekani-backed The Fundamentum Partnership and International Finance Corporation (IFC), with participation from Vertex Ventures.
Previously, Paramark, KRAFTON Inc, 3one4 Capital, Vertex, Verlinvest, and FounderBank Capital backed the audio streaming startup.
What are the offerings of Kuku FM?
KuKuFM, founded by Lal Chand Bisu, Vikas Goyal and Vinod Kumar Meena in 2018, provides audio content such as book summaries, courses, audiobooks, stories, and podcasts spanning multiple genres such as business, self-help, personal finance, historical, religion, entertainment and fitness.
While the company claims to have around 2.5 million paid listeners and over 30,000 content creators, it stated in the previous round that it aims to achieve over 10 million paying customers by the end of this year
Concluding the current round, the startup has raised over $70 million in funding to date. Apart from English, The platform offers content in seven Indian languages, including Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, and Bengali.
Statements:
"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," said Wendy Werner, IFC's India Country Head.
"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" said Kuku FM co-founder Lal Chand Bisu.
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