Kuku Technologies Ltd has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO), seeking to raise between ₹2,500 crore and ₹3,500 crore, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The move makes it the latest company looking to capitalize on investor interest in India’s fast-growing micro-drama market.
The proposed IPO will comprise both a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale. Proceeds from the primary issue will be used to invest in technology and AI infrastructure, content production and geographic expansion, the people said.
While the contours of the offering could evolve before listing, the company’s existing investors are currently expected to sell only a portion of their holdings through the IPO, one of the people cited above said.
“The investors continue to be bullish on the growth of the company and the sector, and will likely hold on to a large part of their shareholding. It is likely to be a 50-50 OFS and fresh issue IPO,” the person added.
Kotak Mahindra Capital, Jefferies, JM Financial and Axis Capital are advising the company on the offering, they added.
The company, which operates vernacular audio platform Kuku FM and short-drama app Kuku TV, is targeting a valuation of up to ₹15,000 crore ($1.8 billion) when it lists later this financial year, the people cited above said.
The filing comes at a time when investor appetite for short-form entertainment platforms is rising. Mint reported last month that several micro-drama startups, including Flick TV, Dashverse Reels and Rigi Reels, are exploring fundraising rounds amid rapid user growth and improving monetization metrics, driven by a combination of subscriptions, micro-transactions and advertising.
The company's founder, Lal Chand Bisu, declined to comment on Mint’s queries.
Market test
Kuku FM raised $85 million in a Series C funding round—a mix of primary and secondary capital—in October 2025, valuing the digital entertainment platform at $550 million. Overall, the company has raised $156 million in funding to date.
Kuku is set to become one of the first major public-market tests of India’s micro-drama thesis, a category that has seen explosive growth over the past year as audiences increasingly consume bite-sized, cliffhanger-led content on smartphones.
Revenue at Kuku surged nearly seven-fold to more than ₹1,400 crore in FY26 from about ₹240 crore a year earlier, according to sources familiar with the company’s financials. The company is also nearing breakeven, they added.
People aware of the business said artificial intelligence has played a key role in that growth by helping accelerate content production, improve personalization and lower customer acquisition costs.
Mint reported in April that Kuku's competitor in the segment Tencent-backed audio platform Pocket FM has revived plans to raise fresh capital, targeting $100 million-$120 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion-$2 billion.
Growth engine
Launched in late 2024, Kuku TV now releases more than 150 original shows every month and has crossed 200 million downloads. The platform operates in a market that industry executives estimate is growing at roughly 60% annually, fuelled by demand for Hindi and vernacular-language content.
The company is betting that India’s micro-drama market can mirror the trajectory seen in China, where the format has evolved into a roughly $15-billion industry.
Across its portfolio, which also includes edutainment app Guru, Kuku has more than 10 million active paying subscribers and over 400 million cumulative downloads. The company has built a content library exceeding 60,000 hours across multiple Indian languages and has begun laying the groundwork for international expansion, including in the US.
Founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Bisu, Vinod Kumar and Vikas Goyal, Kuku has raised more than $150 million from investors including Fundamentum Partnership, Krafton, Vertex Ventures, Granite Asia, IFC, Paramark Ventures, India Quotient and 3one4 Capital.
Former India cricket captain MS Dhoni is also among its backers.