Series, with out the video: Audio leisure platform PocketFM, which rose to fame for its brief collection in regional languages has raised  $103 million as a part of a Series D funding.

Led by Lightspeed Ventures, the funding spherical is a part of PocketFM’s growth on the worldwide entrance.

What does PocketFM do?

PocketFM was present in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Nishanth KS, and Prateek Dixit as a platform which supplied listening, creating audio content material in numerous regional languages in addition to podcasts, audiobooks and tales. 

With genres for audio tales spanning fantasy, superpowers, drama, suspense and thriller in addition to romance, Pocket FM stated its audio collection ‘transcends cultural and geographical boundaries.’

The platform has a library of 100,000 hours of content material with listeners spending 115 minutes on the platform on common. It has additionally seen 20 million transactions in 2023

Backed by Lightspeed, Tanglin Venture Partners, Goodwater Capital, Naver, and Silicon Valley Bank as its buyers, PocketFM’s rise is on the again of coin purchases that can also be format of many on-line video games and novel apps.

This gave it an edge over subscription-based streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify.

The firm in February additionally ventured into on-line studying with the launch of Pocket Novel, and pumped $40 million to bolster its presence within the literary panorama.

Co-founder Nayak in a LinkedIn put up outlined how Pocket Novel has seen 90,000 writers signing up for its platforms since February 20.

The platform has an India-only audiobook arm, which competes with the likes of Audible from Amazon and runs the function with pre-existing companions within the nation. 

Expansion plans 

PocketFM entered the US markets in 2022, and with the latest fundraise it goals to foray into Europe and LATAM markets this 12 months.

The firm’s income within the US has surpassed $100 million when it comes to annual recurring income (ARR).

With 57 per cent development on-quarter, PocketFM’s general ARR is over $150 million.

The newest fundraise can also be a part of its technique to bolster its generative AI efforts and make its content material library richer.

This will assist writers create content material extra effectively, and in addition use AI-based voice narration to create an audio collection.

The firm additionally goals to foray into AI-based suggestions for shoppers sooner or later.

How does the way forward for audio appear like?

With 1.3 billion potential customers globally, the Audio Series market represented a profitable $ 21-25 billion alternative in 2023 and is poised to double by 2027, in response to a report by Redseer.

PocketFM’s personal research in December 2023 reveals 81 per cent of customers tuning into audio leisure every day, surpassing rankings for TV leisure, on-line music and video OTT.

About 31 per cent of readers have shifted from on-line music to audio collection, whereas 16 per cent of them noticed their leisure consumption rise with tuning into audio content material.

The distinction in leisure consumption habits can also be on the again of display fatigue and other people wish to pay attention in at work, and even whereas resting.

Deloitte forecasts over 1.7 billion month-to-month podcast listeners, 270 million audiobook lovers, 750 million streaming music subscribers, and almost 4 billion radio listeners globally in 2024.