PUBG maker Krafton leads $19.5 million funding round in Indian audio content platform Kuku FM

South Korean gaming giant Krafton has pumped in $19.5 million in homegrown audio content platform Kuku FM, the startup announced on Thursday.

With 6 million active paid users, Kuku FM said it will use the funds to drive expansion and strengthen its content.

"We are confident about hitting 10 million active paid users by the end of this year and 50 million paid users by 2025," said Lal Chand Bisu, Co-founder and CEO, Kuku FM.

The Series B round also saw participation from existing investors including 3one4 Capital, Vertex Ventures, and India Quotient, with Founder Bank Capital and Verlinvest joining as new investors.

With this funding, Kuku FM has secured a total of $25 million since its inception in 2018.

Offering content in five languages (Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Gujarati), Kuku FM hosts 150,000 hours of content across audiobooks, stories, book summaries, courses and podcasts on its platform.

With 30,000 creators, 50 per cent of the content is exclusive to the platform and only available on Kuku FM.

"We strongly believe that Indian IPs and regional Indian languages content growth will unlock next big monetisation opportunity not just in India but even globally in the long term," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of India Division at Krafton.

Krafton owns PUBG Studios, Bluehole Studio, Striking Distance Studios, RisingWings, Dreamotion and Unknown Worlds.

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