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Pocket FM Secures Massive $103 Million Investment for International Growth Plans

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India-based audio platform Pocket FM has secured $103 million in Series D funding led by Lightspeed Ventures with participation from Stepstone Group. Pocket FM offers audio series with several short episodes and aim to become the “Netflix for audio” globally. That means you can’t use the coins you bought on Pocket FM to unlock content Pocket Novel products and vice versa. Pocket FM also has a limited audiobook vertical where it competes with the likes of Audible with a similar pay-to-unlock strategy. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADIA has held talks with Pocket FM for a potential mega funding round, TechCrunch reported last week.

Report: Sources Say ADIA, Capital of Abu Dhabi, Considering Investment in Pocket FM of India

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TechCrunch reported about Lightspeed Venture Partners engaging to invest in Pocket FM last year. ADIA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, whereas Pocket FM said it refrains from commenting on market speculations. Pocket FM operates on a freemium model, leveraging long-form episodic storytelling to give users the choice to pay only for content they prefer rather than the entire library. The startup announced last month that it will invest $40 million to grow its online reading platform Pocket Novel. More than 90,000 writers had signed up to the app in less than a month, Pocket FM co-founder Rohan Nayak wrote on LinkedIn this week.

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