Pocket Aces secures $14.7 Mn from Sequoia, 3one4 Capital, others

Mumbai- based digital entertainment startup Pocket Aces has raised fresh funding of $14.7 million from Sequoia Capital, DSP Group, 3one4 Capital and others.

Pocket Aces will utilize the capital to expand its content and technology. The company also aims to get into gaming content, make strategic acquisitions and boost production to 30 shows a year along with three new content channels.

Popularly known for the shows like ‘Little Things’ and ‘What The Folks’, Netflix-backed company claims to roll in 500 million views per month currently and are aiming to hit 1 billion monthly views by 2020.

With a voracity to create good content, Pocket Aces along with negotiating with multiple Hollywood production houses have several originals lined up for Amazon and Hotstar in India and has recently signed a global deal to create several shows for Netflix.

Besides, the company plans to continue investing in its live gaming platform Loco which it acquired for $1 Mn in January 2018.  

Founded in 2013, Pocket Aces is known for creating and distributing engaging original content for millennial audiences through its three main content channels which includes Dice Media (premium long-form web series), Filter Copy (short-form content) and Gobble (short-form food videos).

The firm uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to test genres, actors and plotlines in pilots before spinning them into longer shows for streaming platforms, social media channels and counts Penguin Random House, FreeCharge, Tinder, Swiggy, VelvetCase.com and Little App, among its clients.

Since its last fundraise of $3 mn in December 2016 from Sequoia Capital India and others, Pocket Aces claims to have scaled its viewership by 25x and monetisation by 15x .

Of late, India has emerged as one of fast-growing OTT markets in the world. Apart from domestic players, the country has attracted several global players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, who in the last couple of years have registered significant growth.

In India, the OTT market is expected to rise to $823 million at CAGR of 22.6% by 2022, as per Ashocham-PwC joint study.

The development was reported by ET.