Pocket FM (platform)

Pocket FM is an audio series platform, and has a presence in over 20 countries globally. The platform has over 250,000 content creators and over 130 million listeners spread across geographies.

History
Pocket FM was founded in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Nishanth KS (both alumni of IIT Kharagpur) along with Prateek Dixit.

The company's app on Google Play surpassed 100 million downloads in 2023.

Pocket Novel, an online reading platform, was officially launched by the company in 2024 after a year-long beta phase. News sources cite Pocket FM investing $40 million in its novel business and will compete against Pratilipi. The novel platform has over 150,000 writers and over 250,000 novels, uploaded by writers.

Content
Pocket FM offers content in various genres including romance, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, mythology, suspense and thriller. Each episode usually lasts between 10 and 30 minutes.

Pocket FM offers content in a variety of languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali.

The platform follows a Freemium model where the first 3-4 episodes in a 24-hour period are offered for free to listeners. Thereafter the platform charges the listeners, giving them a choice to make a micropayment per episode or buy the entire audio series.

Financials and Earnings
Pocket FM reported 647% revenue growth for its India business in FY2023. The company has exceeded $150m ARR (annualised revenue run rate) globally in 2023, while US contributed to over $100m ARR.

Funding
Pocket FM has raised $196.5 million in funding from investors, including Goodwater Capital, Tanglin Venture Partners, Naver, Lightspeed, Tencent and Times Internet. It has raised $103 million led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Stepstone Group amidst funding winter. With presence in US and India, it is expanding into LATAM and Europe.

ESOP Buyback
In April 2024, Pocket FM announced the completion of its first ESOP buyback worth $8.3 million.

Awards and recognition

 * Rohan Nayak, Nishanth KS and Prateek Dixit among Fortune India 40 under 40.
 * Rohan Nayak among Forbes Asia 30 under 30.
 * Pocket FM among LinkedIn Top Startups 2023, ranked 4.
 * Pocket FM among LinkedIn Top Startups 2022, ranked 24.