The key facts
- EloElo raised $80 million in a Series C from Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal; valuation — $500 million, total raised — $130 million
- Story TV is one of the leading microdrama apps with more than 33 million active users
- Analysts expect India's microdrama market to reach $3–4 billion in annual revenue by 2030
A major funding round amid the format's growth
Indian company EloElo, which owns the microdrama platform Story TV, has raised $80 million in a Series C round from Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, TechCrunch reports. The round brings the total funds raised to $130 million and values the company at $500 million. MIT Investment Co. and existing investors Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners also participated in the investment.
Audience and market scale
According to analysts, more than 118 million users watch microdramas in India every month, and Story TV is among the leading apps in the format with more than 33 million active users. Last year, the dedicated apps Story TV, Kuku TV and Quick TV ranked among the country's most downloaded video streaming apps. Analysts expect the industry to exceed $3–4 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Founded in 2020 by former Flipkart executive Saurabh Pandey, the platform offers a catalog of more than 5,000 titles in six languages; users spend an average of 95 minutes a day in the app.
Monetization remains a bottleneck
The main challenge for the platforms is low conversion to paying users. According to a Redseer report, more than 40 million people have paid for microdramas at least once, but only 15–17 million do so monthly. An Ormax Media survey found that 72% of viewers have never paid for such content. EloElo earns money from subscriptions (monthly, quarterly and annual) and from free ad-supported content, which, according to available data, generates less revenue than subscriptions. The company also points to content production partnerships, including collaboration with the Indian television production company Balaji Telefilms.
Betting on AI and other products
Microdrama platforms are seeking to expand their content volume with the help of AI. Story TV is developing its own Dolphin AI platform — an editor with templates and models for creating images, audio and video, which the company plans to make publicly available. Similar tools are being built by Google-backed Kuku and Dashverse with its Shortfree app. Pandey emphasizes that human involvement remains key: “AI is a very fast race car, where AI is the engine, but behind the wheel you need an extremely capable Formula 1 driver,” he said about the role of creative directors. In addition to microdramas, EloElo is developing the educational vertical video app Master and the AI companion Voxy AI; the company's apps together reach more than 40 million users per month, most of them on Story TV. With a staff of 240 employees, the company plans to hire for its AI and machine learning team and invest a significant portion of the capital in original content.
