Gurugram-based Pocket FM, which operates an eponymous audio show platform, exceeded $25 million (around Rs 205 crore) ARR (annualised revenue run-rate), as recorded as of October 2022.
Pocket FM is also entering the US market, according to a statement by the company. With the introduction of micro-payment, the platform said it has registered a 10x revenue growth during the fourth year of operations, with over 500,000 monthly transactions.
The audio series platform strengthened its content offerings with 733 audio series, a rise of 270% year-on-year.
According to the statement, streaming on Pocket FM has increased by 75%, surpassing 40 billion minutes in its fourth year. Over 80% of its listeners belong to the 15-35 years age group.
A majority of listeners choose romance, suspense, thrillers and family drama. Besides these popular genres, Pocket FM has seen a pattern in the fantasy segment, which has witnessed a 4x growth in listening minutes, it said.
“As we scale up to emerge as the global audio series platform, we will continue to strengthen our content library, and nurture and grow our creator community across the world to keep our listeners entertained,” said Rohan Nayak, co-founder and chief executive officer, Pocket FM.
Nayak added, “We are glad to have led this category creation with sustainable and profitable growth. As we successfully discovered the content monetization model in the audio space, our revenue has grown 10x to $25 million ARR in just 12 months. With the continued momentum and expected growth targets, we foresee another 4x growth in our revenue during our fifth year of operations, thus entering into the $100 million ARR club within five years of our operations.”
Founded by IIT-Kharagpur graduates Nayak and Nishanth Srinivas, Pocket FM is an online marketplace for audio shows and podcasts. To date, it has raised a total of $93.5 million in venture funding.
In March, Pocket FM secured Series C funding of $65 million led by the US-based venture capital fund Goodwater Capital and South Korean internet conglomerate Naver Corporation. The company raised nearly $5.6 million from Tencent Cloud Europe, a unit of Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings, along with venture capital firm Lightspeed India in its Series A round of funding.
