Pocket FM raises $22.4 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed

Audio streaming app, Pocket FM, has raised $22.4 million as part of its Series B funding round led by Lightspeed with participation from Times Group and Tanglin Venture Partners.

The fresh capital will go towards scaling the company’s operations and bolster its community of content creators along with expanding the company’s reach globally. Additionally, the company will allocate a portion of the funds towards investment in technology and user recommendations. Previously, Pocket FM raised $5.6 million in its Series A round from Tencent.

“We are at a juncture where both Pocket FM and the overall audio OTT space are witnessing exponential growth,” said Rohan Nayak, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Pocket FM, in a statement. “Audio storytelling has now become a mainstream content format for entertainment and our mission is to build Pocket FM as a global entertainment service provider. We are grateful to our investors for their continued faith and support in our vision.”

Founded in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Nishanth Srinivas, and Prateek Dixit, Pocket FM offers long-form audio in eight Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, and more. The company reports 40 million registered downloads, 3 billion monthly listening minutes, and more than 110 minutes being spent by users daily. The platform features a selection of 10,000+ audiobooks, podcasts, radio shows, and user-generated spoken word content.

“We are excited to back the Pocket FM team as they scale up to build the future of audio content and are looking forward to the next phase of this incredible journey. The team has constantly innovated ahead of the curve, with multiple language offerings for their short and long form audio content,” said Harsha Kumar, Partner at Lightspeed.

“Pocket FM is a pioneer in the audio OTT space in India, and their approach towards democratising audio content creation is a game-changer. The company’s stellar growth trajectory, user engagement, and retention are a testament of the consumer’s love for Pocket FM’s product. We look forward to working with the Pocket FM team towards building a large and enduring business,” said Sankalp Gupta, partner, Tanglin Venture Partner.

At present, Pocket FM works with over 17,000 writers and voice artists. Pocket FM intends to surpass the 100 million users in the next six months. In February 2021, the start-up raised $24,000 from angel investor Haresh Chawla.

Check out Pocket FM here

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