India-based audio OTT platform Pocket FM raises US$65 million in its Series C round

Indian audio OTT startup Pocket FM has raised US$65 million in its Series C round led by Naver, Goodwater Capital, along with participation from existing investor Tanglin Venture Partners.

The online audio platform will be using the fresh funding to strengthen its leadership position, expand into new languages, invest in AI capabilities, and build the largest audio creator community.

“We are elated to announce our Series C funding and would like to thank Goodwater Capital, Naver, and Tanglin Venture Partners for their trust in us. This is a validation of our market leadership and trust in our execution capabilities,” said Pocket FM co-founder and CEO Rohan Nayak. He added, “Audio consumption has seen exponential growth over the last year, and we are on a mission to build the largest audio OTT platform.”

“With this investment, we are looking to grow our creator community further, be the biggest audio destination for entertainment and knowledge, and targetting 5 million paying users in the next 12 months,” Pocket FM co-founder and COO Nishanth KS said.

About Pocket FM

Founded in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Prateek Dikshit, and Nishanth Srinivas, Pocket FM is an online marketplace for audio content including audio shows, novels, stories, and podcasts.

The company claims that its app has more than 100,000 hours of content across various genres from over 17,000 writers and voice artists creating content in 8 languages- Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, and English.

The startup claims that it has seen 12x growth in consumption of self-help books and audio courses in addition to audio entertainment and is targeting 5 million paying users in the next one year. It has more than 50 million users and registered more than 3 billion monthly listening minutes.

“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,” Goodwater Capital, director for investment, Scott Shiao said.