The latest round has nearly fivefold increased the company’s valuation to $500 million, according to sources familiar with the development. The fundraise takes EloElo’s total capital raised to $130 million.
MIT Investment Company and existing investors Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners also participated in the round. Around $60 million came from external investors, with the remainder contributed by existing investors.
Read more: EloElo Group raises $80 Million in Series C funding led by Hornbill Capital, NBCUniversal
Nearly 95% of the funding is primary capital, while $3-4 million will be through secondary transactions involving early angels and investors.
Founded in 2020 by former Flipkart executive Saurabh Pandey, EloElo operates Story TV, Master, Dolphin AI and Voxy AI. Story TV has more than 5,000 micro-dramas across six languages, with a new drama released every three hours. The company reported over 40 million monthly active users across its apps and more than 300 million installs.
The fresh capital will be deployed towards premium original content across languages, strengthening Dolphin AI, its AI-powered creative suite, and launching micro-dramas in international markets, including the US.Read more: Eloelo group-owned micro-drama platform Story TV appoints Manan Mehta as senior vice-president, strategy and content
Pandey told ET that EloElo has recorded four-digit year-on-year revenue growth, largely driven by Story TV. While the company has profitable unit economics at the user level, it is not yet profitable overall. Its FY26 financials are expected to provide more clarity on its performance.
AI has become central to EloElo’s production model, with around 70-80% of its workflows AI-enabled. The company’s average micro-drama production cost remains at Rs 15-17 lakh, with AI being used for script assistance, visual effects, location replacement and multilingual localisation. It has produced hundreds of fully AI-generated and hybrid dramas.
Pandey estimates that leading micro-drama platforms have reached a combined annualised revenue run rate of $700-800 million in India. He expects the category to become a $4-5 billion market by 2030, with two or three large players eventually dominating.
NBCUniversal, Pandey said, will provide strategic insights into content and international expansion, though no immediate distribution partnership is planned.
Hornbill Capital founder and managing partner Manoj Thakur said the company’s creative capabilities and technology-led approach to scaling content were key to its potential.
NBCUniversal executive vice-president for corporate strategy and development Deepak Arya said the company saw significant opportunity in mobile-first storytelling and emerging formats such as micro-dramas.
