Verified employee & interview reviews

Kuku FM Reviews

Bengaluru, Karnataka

4.5/ 5

2 reviews

Kuku FM (operated by Mebigo Labs Private Limited, which later transitioned to Kuku Technologies Limited) is a prominent Indian digital audio and video storytelling platform. Founded in 2018 by Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Kumar Meena, and Vikas Goyal, the company was established with the vision of reinventing traditional radio for modern, mobile-first audiences. It initially began operations in Bangalore before strategically shifting its headquarters to Mumbai, while continuing to maintain a major corporate presence in Bengaluru. The platform specializes in non-music, long-form regional language content, offering an extensive catalog of audiobooks, original storytelling series, book summaries, podcasts, motivational speeches, and educational courses. It spans over 14 regional Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi, primarily targeting non-English speaking audiences in Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4 cities across India. To cater to daily routines, its long-form audio content is frequently broken down into bite-sized, episodic modules designed to fit into brief windows of unallocated time, such as during daily commutes or household chores. In line with evolving consumer habits, Kuku FM expanded its ecosystem beyond its audio-first roots by introducing Kuku TV. This expansion focuses on the rapidly growing digital media frontier of video microdramas—short, high-intensity, culturally rooted visual series optimized for mobile viewing. The company also operates a dedicated creator ecosystem, providing production, distribution, and marketing tools to a community of over 50,000 creators, allowing them to monetize their exclusive content. Over 90% of the listening time on the platform is driven by these in-house, exclusive intellectual properties (IPs), which utilize an AI-enabled studio for production efficiencies. Financially, Kuku FM operates a hybrid revenue model that combines predictable subscription fees for high-frequency users with localized microtransactions for casual listeners. The company has demonstrated significant growth momentum, securing over 100 million application downloads and reporting an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of approximately $75 million, with its FY24 revenue jumping 114% year-on-year to ₹104.2 crore. The platform is backed by major institutional and venture capital investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Granite Asia, Krafton, Vertex Ventures, The Fundamentum Partnership, 3one4 Capital, and India Quotient. Following a cumulative funding history that includes a $25 million Series C round and a substantial $85 million round in late 2025, the company announced its transition toward public markets, initiating its IPO registration process with an announced deal volume of $335 million. It continues to scale its operations globally by leveraging AI-powered localization tools.