Startups
EloElo raises $80 million from NBCUniversal to grow microdramas
The parent of Story TV is betting that Indians will pay for bite-sized vertical dramas.
In short
$80MSeries C for EloElo
- Valuation: $500 million
- 40M+ monthly users
- 5,000+ titles in 6 languages
What happened
EloElo Group, which runs microdrama app Story TV, raised $80 million in a Series C led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, at a $500 million valuation. It has now raised $130 million in total. Founder Saurabh Pandey is a former Flipkart executive.
EloElo says it has over 40 million monthly users across its apps, who spend about 95 minutes a day watching.
Why it matters
Microdramas are short, cliffhanger-heavy episodes made for phones. Over 11.8 crore Indians watch them monthly, and analysts expect the business to make $3–4 billion a year by 2030. The challenge is payment: one survey found 72% of viewers have never paid.
