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Pocket FM is an audio series platform that provides audio entertainment.

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Bengaluru-based social platform ShareChat, has closed a $4 Mn Series A round of funding, led by Lightspeed India Partners. Existing investors, SAIF Partners and India Quotient along with Venture Highway (through VH Capital).

Social Platform ShareChat Raises $4 Mn In Series A From Lightspeed India Partners, Others

Audio OTT app Pocket FM has raised capital worth $22.4 million in Series B funding round. Led by Lightspeed, the round saw participation from a clutch of investors including Times Group and first-time investor in the company, Tanglin Venture Partners. The fresh capital will be utilised to scale up the operations, build the largest community of content creators, intensify its presence across geographies, invest in technology for better recommendations, and strengthen the overall audio OTT category globally.

The company is building a robust ecosystem for audio OTT with Pocket FM and its largest community of content creators, Rohan Nayak, co-founder and CEO, Pocket FM, said. “We are at a juncture where both Pocket FM and the overall audio OTT space are witnessing exponential growth. 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 and are very optimistic about the future,” he added.

Pocket FM raises $22.4 million in Series B funding round

Vernacular audiobooks and podcast marketplace Pocket FM has raised Rs 41 crore in Series A round from Tencent, Times Group and Lightspeed India. 

Tencent Cloud BV led the round by investing Rs 23.41 crore, whereas Lightspeed India and Times Group infused Rs 11.22 crore and Rs 6.7 crore respectively, regulatory filings show. The deal was executed in April when foreign direct investment from Chinese investors was allowed under the automatic route.

Pocket FM had raised Rs 4.61 crore its seed capital from Lightspeed and Times Group in December  2018. Importantly, this is the second bet by Tencent in vernacular content space. Early this year, it led a Rs 76 crore worth Series C round in Bengaluru-based Pratilipi.

As per Fintrackr’s estimate, Pocket FM was valued at around Rs 116 crore (post-money), which is a jump of 6.3x in its valuation as compared to Rs 18.5 crore when it raised Rs 4.6 crore in its seed round.

Promoters' collective shareholding has been diluted from 64.75% to 41.65% after the fresh infusion. Rohan Nayak controls 15.1% while Nishanth Srinivas commands 14.47% and Prateek Dixit owns 12.08%.


 Lightspeed now is the biggest stakeholder in the company. It holds 22.61% stake in Pocket Fm followed by Tencent BV which has acquired 20.1% in this round of funding. Times Group now controls a 9.04% stake, whereas the ESOP pool consists of 6.43%. With the Series A round, the company has raised a total of Rs 45.7 crore external equity capital.

Pocket FM deals in four genres: audiobooks, podcast, entertainment self-help book (personality development and motivational). According to its website, it offers over 10,000 hours of audiobooks and podcasts across three languages: Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. 

Over the past two-three years, the consumption of audio content has shot up among vernacular users. The segment has been dominated by Pratilipi that has raised about $30 million across three institutional rounds.

Exclusive: Pocket FM bags Rs 41 Cr in Series A; valuation scales

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