Gurugram-based audio OTT platform Pocket FM on Thursday said it raised $65 million in a Series C round led by Goodwater Capital, Naver, and existing investor – Tanglin Venture Partners.
According to a press statement, Pocket FM will use the fresh capital to strengthen its leadership position, expand into new languages, invest in AI capabilities, and build the largest audio creator community.
Nishanth KS, Co-founder and COO, Pocket FM, said,
“In addition to audio entertainment, we saw 12X growth in consumption of self-help books audio courses. Users are looking for high quality knowledge content to upskill themselves. With this investment, we are looking to grow our creator community further, be the biggest audio destination for entertainment and knowledge, and target five million paying users in the next 12 months.”
“Audio consumption has seen exponential growth over the last year, and we are on a mission to build the largest audio OTT platform,” added Rohan Nayak, Co-founder and CEO, Pocket FM.
Founded in 2018, Pocket FM claims to offer 100,000+ hours of enriching content via long-format content, audio shows, stories, novels, and podcasts. With a wide community of 50,000+ PUGC writers and voice artists, the startup has a plethora of the finest and premium audio content in eight languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, English, Kannada, and Marathi).
Pocket FM also claims to have over 50 million users and three billion+ monthly listening minutes.
Pocket FM had raised $28.6 million in previous rounds from existing marquee investors like Lightspeed, Tencent, Times Group, and Tanglin Venture Partners.
YongJung (YJ) Park, Investment Director at NAVER Corporation, said,
“Pocket FM has demonstrated unbelievable growth since its launch and has amazing momentum, quickly becoming a leader in the space of audio OTT platforms. With its creator-first platform, Pocket FM is poised to lead this wave of growth in the audio OTT space and fuel the next generation of entertainment experiences.”
Scott Shiao, Director, Investment at Goodwater Capital, added,
“Pocket FM empowers audio creators around the world in crafting the best long-form audio content, from writing to voice acting, while also providing a channel for consumers to find and discover that content. We look forward to helping Pocket FM to continue to grow its platform.”
Pocket FM is by all accounts an inspiring startup with spurring development on audio OTT platform. I’m certain this startup would keep on flourishing in its excursion ahead. All the best to the whole group Pocket FM. This will give them a colossal achievement in the future.
Shishir Gupta, Founder and CEO, StartupLanes
Don’t keep wondering about funding, you can also raise funds. Learn how to raise funds here: Yes I want to raise funds.
If you are an emerging startup and are looking for investors to raise funds, StartupLanes has its own angel network and investment banking services and is connected to angel investors and VCs in 15 countries that ensure that our member startups have easy access to external funds to scale up constantly.
You can subscribe to our news posts by entering your email in the box on the right side of this page.
Check out our YouTube channel for insightful content from the Indian startup ecosystem.
Or join our Whatsapp group to interact with other founders: Yes, I want to join the Whatsapp group.
The right investment is key to beating inflation and growing your wealth. Do you wish to become an angel investor? Yes, I want to be an angel investor. Are you a startup and facing challenges in your business? Do you want to grow your business? It is not as difficult as it sounds. Learn how to grow your business here- Yes, I want to grow my business.