Kuku FM raises $25M co-led by Fundamentum Partnership and IFC

Audio content platform KukuFM has raised $25 million in a Series C round of funding co-led by The Fundamentum Partnership and International Finance Corporation (IFC), with participation from Vertex Ventures.

This is Kuku FM's second funding within a year as it had last raised $21.9 million in a Series B1 round led by Fundamentum in September 2022.

Kuku FM, which claims to have a paid subscriber base of 2.5 million, said it will use the fresh capital to strengthen its content ecosystem and technology development.

Founded in 2018 by Lal Chand Bisu, Vikas Goyal, and Vinod Kumar Meena, the startup has cumulatively raised $47.3 million prior to this Series C round.

The other investors in the audio platform include Google, Paramark, KRAFTON, Inc, 3one4 Capital, V Cube Ventures, India Quotient and FounderBank Capital.

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“In our journey towards building a business model focused on Bharat 2.0 segment and creating a sustainable business model with a clear path to profitability, Fundamentum team’s insights and support have been invaluable. We are excited to welcome our new partner International Finance Corporation," said Lal Chand Bisu, Co-founder and CEO, Kuku FM.

At present, Kuku FM hosts 150,000 hours of content in various formats including audiobooks, stories, book summaries, courses, and podcasts with a majority of the content being exclusive to the platform. Kuku FM’s offering covers a wide range of genres including fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, personal finance, self-help, education titles, entertainment, news, mythology, spirituality, learning and inspirational content, among others.

“Kuku FM has created a niche category which caters to the unique and rapidly evolving demands of the new digital natives of India. We are excited to be a partner in Kuku FM’s journey in building a strong national creator-listener community, with specific focus on supporting entrepreneurs,” said Prateek Jain, Principal, Fundamentum Partnership.