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India - based audio platformPocket FMhas secure $ 103 million in Series D support direct by Lightspeed Ventures , with participation from Stepstone Group . The caller , which depend Tencent and Times Internet as backers , aims to inflate into Europe and Latin America after looking at positive outcome in the U.S. marketplace .
The troupe has now bring up $ 196 million across multiple round and is valued at $ 750 million , TechCrunch has exclusively learned .
TechCrunch report last twelvemonth thatthe company was in talks with Lightspeed to lead the funding roundthat it announce today .
How does the platform work?
Pocket FM chiefly offers audio serial based around myopic episodes : user can listen to some series or episode for free and unlock others by purchase coins . Instead of adopting a subscription - free-base approach to lease users access all content as Netflix or Spotify do , Pocket FM has found that the pay - as - you - go model is more worthy for the company .
The drawback , from a revenue standpoint , is that users do n’t get interlace into repeat defrayment cycles/second . But it can still pay dividend and pull in repeat buying : If user want to listen to more content in a serial they have to purchase coin — like buying tier - up token in a game .
The companionship is also double down on the creator economy . Last month , the company sound out that it plans to adorn $ 40 million into its Wattpad - similar writing platformPocket Novel . Last week , the company ’s co - father Rohan Nayak post onLinkedInthat more than 90,000 writers had signed up on the program since February 20 . Pocket Novel also pushes users to buy coin to unlock content .
But while both apps have a coin - buying mechanism to unlock content , there is no consolidation between them at the moment . That means you ca n’t apply the coins you buy on Pocket FM to unlock capacity Pocket Novel product and vice versa .
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Pocket FM also has a limited audiobook upright where it competes with the the like of Audible with a similar earnings - to - unlock scheme . The company is escape this ware only in India with exist partnerships .
Numbers game
pouch FM typically optimizes for users spend more metre on the platform . To that end , the audio chopine has more than 100,000 + hours of content and over 400,000 episode across genres and spoken communication .
The company ’s U.S. elaboration — it open up for business there in 2021 — has proved to be a major revenue driver . It said that Pocket FM has crossed $ 150 million ARR this twelvemonth — with a $ 100 million ARR donation from the U.S. The company is present in other securities industry , but it count the U.S. and India as its biggest marketplace .
The platform has also catch a gamy level of battle from its U.S. exploiter base . While globally , users are spending 115 second on the audio political program , that average goes up to 135 second in the U.S.
The Pocket Novel penning political program , which has local competitors likeOmidyar meshing - gage Pratilipi , has more than 250,000 writers onboard . The company wants Pocket Novel to clock $ 100 million in ARR by 2025 .
Efforts in GenAI and the creator economy
It is not surprising that Pocket FM is cutting to try out generative AI - based feature film . It has already start testing a pecker for writers in the U.S. to convert their writings into audiobooks . The company is working with Eleven Labs to provide writer with an regalia of 50 AI - powered part .
The inauguration notice that it is also internally working on AI - power putz that will facilitate creator write their stories quicker .
While Pocket Novel writers earn through a revenue plowshare program , the inauguration provides incentives for hitting written material goals . But using AI tools that often generate unreliable or low - timbre turnout mean there is a lot of average content on the political platform .
Nayak told TechCrunch that fundamentally it is a platform ’s job to filter out the noise .
“ You postulate to dribble out the racket and ensure you filter out the mellow - calibre capacity which you then make useable to listeners . The room we see AI at least in our context , it ’s more about how you apply AI to unlock productivity and efficiency gains for creators for writer , ” he said .
Pocket FM says that some writers on the platform make more than $ 3,000 per month but it did n’t give info about fair overall income . The party does n’t impose an exclusivity article when creators are onboarding the platform , but the inauguration said that it has some sight in property to own the IP .
Lightspeed spouse Harsha Kumar enjoin that while the appetite for audio content is global , Pocket FM will want to ply to local tastes in different geography .
political program that bank on substance abuser - generated content often skew toward pop creators when it come to profile and earnings . Kumar believes a perfect recommendation algorithm will fiddle a key part in see mirror symmetry .
“ This is always a tough balance . Companies can try out many thing all the way from hyper - personalization for consumer to using AI supporter to help creators get better and boost their earnings . I believe the political program ’s testimonial algorithms have a immense role to flirt — whether the platform urge popular depicted object or it recommends subject matter per your penchant , ” she suppose .
Future plans for investment and expansion
Separately , the company is already talking to investors for its next round . Abu Dhabi ’s supreme riches investment trust ADIA has hold talks with Pocket FM fora potential mega financial support around , TechCrunch reported last week .
The company did n’t flat respond to that development but sound out it has received significant investor pursuit .
“ As you ’re scale you see a wad of investor pastime generally . But whether it is the new one shot or not look on sort of our scaling program and depends on something materialize , ” Nayak state .
“ The swelled challenge is to conform content to invoke to local gustatory sensation and local context . We have found that some neighborhood prefer stories that have greater local prayer — where characters have relatable name and locations are acknowledge and witness for example . A separate execution challenge is of course construction and operating a spherical constitution that imbibes the same culture , ” Lightspeed ’s Kumar said .
Nayak also bring up that the company is not profitable yet , but it has a high gross leeway and is focusing on scaling . The inauguration has around 800 the great unwashed and plan to add 500 personnel across the ball .
