Pocket FM raises $103 Mn in Series D round

Audio series platform Pocket FM has scooped up $103 million in its Series D round led by Lightspeed, and with participation from Stepstone Group.

The new funding will strengthen Pocket FM's push into the US market and also support global expansion as the company plans to expand into Europe and LATAM markets this year, the firm said in a press release.

Pocket FM facilitates long-form audio content including audio shows, stories, and novels. The company will keep creating exclusive content libraries by providing a platform to the writer community.

This latest round brings Pocket FM’s total funding to date to $196.5 million. Entrackr had exclusively reported about Pocket FM’s new fundraise in October last year.

The Bengaluru-based company claims to have over 100,000 hours of content, including more than 2,000 exclusive audio series and more than 400,000 episodes across genres and languages.

The company also said that it has surpassed $150 million (Rs 1,250 crore) ARR, and is growing at 57% QoQ. In 2023, it clocked over 20 million transactions and claimed that its US revenue crossed $100 million in average revenue run rate (ARR) during the last calendar year. 

“US audiences are the most engaged on the platform globally, spending over 135 minutes daily. The platform has approximately 10 million registered users in the US,” the firm added in the press release.

The Indian entity of Pocket’s FM reported an 8.7X surge in its revenue to Rs 148.7 crore in FY23 from Rs 17 crore in FY22, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible. The firm also managed to contract its losses by 73.5% to Rs 45.47 crore in FY23 from Rs 171.6 crore in FY22.

Its direct competitor Kuku FM raised $25 million in its Series C round in September last year.  The company’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 41.2 crore during FY23 from Rs 4.4 crore in FY22.