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sound amusement startup Pocket FM has pinch $ 160 million in annualized revenue runrate and is inching nigher to raising over $ 80 million in a new funding round , three sources intimate with the topic told TechCrunch .

Lightspeed , an existing investor in Pocket FM , is in late degree of talking to lead the funding round into the Indian inauguration , the source said , request anonymity as the topic is individual . The investment giant star is evaluating financing the turn from both its India and U.S. weapon , one of the sources said . The current deliberations value the startup at about $ 800 million , two of the sources said .

The funding advisement follow a tight - pace revenue maturation at the Indian startup , which offer up serialized fiction and non - fiction substance span literary genre like romance , self - help and motivation . Its current ARR is over $ 160 million , two of the author tell , a six - to - seven times increment over a year ago . Pocket FM had in public fix a goal of reach an ARR of $ 100 million by 2023 - ending .

The inauguration ’s expansion into the U.S. , and tender customers a non - subscription , pay - as - you - go offering has turn out especially successful , according to one of the sources .

Pocket FM — which also counts Tencent and Times Internet as backer and has raised about $ 93 million to date , according to speculation sixth sense platform Tracxn — run on a freemium manikin , leveraging recollective - configuration occasional storytelling to give users the choice to give only for content they prefer rather than the entire library .

This approach has allowed the inauguration to offer gratuitous approach to episodes every 24 hours , with a fee for extra content . Since early 2022 , the platform has utilize a micro - transaction exemplar , enable users to purchase coin in local up-to-dateness to redeem for episodes beyond the free quota . On median , attender spend over 110 minute day by day on the platform , agree to another person conversant with the matter .

Pocket FM and Lightspeed decline to remark Tuesday eventide . Amerind outlet Entrackr antecedently report some of the backing detail .

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