The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2018–2026
Kuku FM bets vernacular India pays for audio: 10M+ paid users, ₹1,400 Cr revenue, IPO
Kuku FM (2018, Mumbai) bet Hindi-first India would pay ₹399/year for audio; it grew to 10M+ paid users and ₹1,400+ Cr FY26 revenue, filing a ₹3,500 Cr IPO.
Kuku FM (Kuku Technologies Ltd)
What the business is
Kuku FM is a Mumbai-based vernacular entertainment platform streaming audiobooks, stories, self-help, finance and courses in 14 Indian languages, monetized through subscriptions and microtransactions; sister app Kuku TV produces short microdrama video series.
Starting capital：$85M round in October 2025 led by Granite Asia at about a $500M valuation; earlier $25M Series C (2023, Fundamentum + IFC) and $21.9M Series B1 (2022)
How it started
Founded in June 2018 by IIT Jodhpur batchmates Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Kumar Meena and Vikas Goyal, Kuku FM launched in audio at a moment when almost everyone wrote it off: VCs did not believe vernacular India would pay for content, and the assumption was that short video would flatten audio. The founders bet the opposite and built a paid, subscription-first product for Hindi and regional-language listeners.
What happened
The model compounded: FY24 total revenue hit ₹104.1 crore (2x from ₹48.8 crore) with over 2.5 million paid users, and FY26 revenue surged nearly seven-fold to more than ₹1,400 crore from about ₹240 crore, close to operational break-even. Paid users grew 4x from about 2 million in early 2024 to 10 million-plus across Kuku FM, Kuku TV and Guru. In October 2025 Granite Asia led an $85 million round at about a $500 million valuation, and Kuku TV — launched in early 2025 — became India's most downloaded app for 30 straight days.
How it ended up
Still running and scaling: in June 2026 Kuku Technologies confidentially filed its DRHP with SEBI for an IPO of ₹2,500–3,500 crore at a valuation of up to ₹15,000 crore (about $1.8 billion), and is expanding into the US.
Background
Kuku FM, founded in June 2018 by IIT Jodhpur batchmates Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Kumar Meena and Vikas Goyal, started as an audio platform when vernacular audio IP barely existed in India. Instead of aggregating content, it became a studio that produced its own Hindi and regional-language audiobooks, stories, self-help and finance shows.
The bet was contrarian: investors believed vernacular India would not pay for content and that short video would flatten audio. Kuku charged ₹399 a year and built a subscription-first model with microtransactions for casual listeners — a dual engine aimed at both loyal subscribers and first-time digital spenders in Tier 2–4 India.
It worked. FY24 total revenue doubled to ₹104.1 crore with over 2.5 million paid users; by October 2025 Granite Asia led an $85 million round at about a $500 million valuation, with paid users up 4x to 10 million-plus across Kuku FM, Kuku TV and Guru. FY26 revenue surged nearly seven-fold to over ₹1,400 crore, close to operational break-even.
In June 2026 Kuku Technologies confidentially filed its DRHP with SEBI for an IPO of ₹2,500–3,500 crore at a valuation of up to ₹15,000 crore (about $1.8 billion), with proceeds earmarked for AI infrastructure, content and overseas expansion including the US.
What has to be true
- The founders started from an unmet need — there was no vernacular audio IP — and built a studio instead of copying Western aggregator models.
- They priced for the audience they knew: a ₹399/year subscription plus microtransactions matched how value-conscious Tier 2–4 users actually spend.
- Sticking with paid audio while the market chased free short video proved durable, with 10M+ paying subscribers and near break-even before the IPO filing.
- An in-house AI content studio let Kuku scale production across 14 languages and extend the same IP into video microdramas via Kuku TV.
What can be applied
The skeptics' market became the moat: while investors assumed vernacular India wouldn't pay, Kuku's subscription-plus-microtransaction model reached 10M+ paid users and an IPO filing.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Kuku Technologies is scaling and IPO-bound: it confidentially filed draft papers with SEBI in June 2026 to raise ₹2,500–3,500 crore at up to ₹15,000 crore valuation, with the listing expected later in the fiscal year. Across Kuku FM, Kuku TV and Guru it reports 10M+ active paying subscribers and 400M+ cumulative downloads, with FY26 revenue of ₹1,400+ crore after near seven-fold growth and close to operational break-even. Kuku TV was India's most downloaded app for 30 consecutive days after its early-2025 launch, and the company plans to expand to the US.
Sources
- Audio platform KuKu FM raises $25 million in Series C round led by Fundamentum Partnership, IFC
- Kuku FM's FY24 Revenue Jumps 114% To INR 104 Cr
- Kuku FM Raises $85 Million: Building India's First Full-Stack Entertainment Platform in a Fast-Compounding Digital Economy
- Kuku Technologies files confidential DRHP for Rs 3,500 Cr IPO
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