EloElo Group, the Bengaluru consumer AI and entertainment company behind microdrama platform Story TV, has raised $80 million in a Series C round led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, the company told Mint on Wednesday 4 November. Variety and TechCrunch reported the same co-leads and ticket size. Mint, citing a person familiar with the matter, put the post-money valuation at $500 million; that figure is not in the company’s own attributed quotes.
Key facts
- Round: $80m Series C, co-led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal
- Also in: MIT Investment Co.; returning shareholders include Griffin Gaming Partners, Waterbridge Ventures, Kalaari Capital and Play Ventures
- Valuation: $500m (Mint, person familiar with the matter); total capital raised $130m
- Story TV: more than 5,000 microdramas in six languages; new title every three hours; about 95 minutes of viewing per user per day
- Group apps: more than 40 million monthly active users; Avendus Capital advised
The round is a rare Hollywood studio cheque into India’s phone-first drama stack, and it arrives as microdrama platforms compete for the same paid-user pool that India’s theatrical market and streamers already fight over. EloElo said more than 95% of the $80 million is fresh capital, with only a small slice funding early-angel exits. External investors including NBCUniversal and MIT will each hold a minority stake of less than 5%, founder Saurabh Pandey told Mint.
Use of proceeds and the platform
Pandey said the money will go into three priorities: premium original content in Indian languages (with a sharper push into Tamil, Telugu and Hindi), an international launch for Story TV, and further investment in Dolphin AI, the group’s agentic creative suite. The company is producing about 250 microdramas a month at an average production cost of ₹15–17 lakh ($16,000–$18,000) per title, he said, and keeps a headcount of about 240 in Bengaluru. Rupee figures use the Frankfurter/ECB mid-market INR–USD rate of 0.010554 on 3 November.
Story TV carries more than 5,000 titles across six languages and releases a new drama every three hours. Mint and Variety both put average daily viewing at 95 minutes per user. Across Story TV, micro-learning app Master, AI companion Voxy AI and Dolphin AI, the group claims more than 40 million monthly active users; Variety also cites more than 300 million installs. TechCrunch, citing analysts, put Story TV alone above 33 million active users – a narrower cut than the group figure.
Pandey told Mint the business is profitable at unit-economics level and recorded close to four-digit year-on-year growth in FY26, without disclosing the exact revenue number ahead of audited results. He put FY25 annualised net revenue at about ₹70 crore ($7.4m) and average spend per paying user at roughly ₹200–230 ($2.1–2.4) a month.
Investors and market context
Hornbill Capital founder and managing partner Manoj Thakur said EloElo combines creative capacity with technology-driven scale. Deepak Arya, executive vice-president of corporate strategy and development at NBCUniversal, said the studio sees opportunity in mobile-first storytelling and microdramas, and framed the partnership as a route for EloElo beyond India, including into the US market. Avendus Capital acted as exclusive financial adviser.
On market size, Mint, Variety and TechCrunch all cite research firm Omdia’s projection that global microdrama revenue will reach $14 billion by the end of 2026. Redseer estimates that 40 million people in India paid to watch a microdrama at least once in FY26; TechCrunch adds Redseer’s narrower monthly-payer band of 15–17 million and an Ormax Media survey finding that 72% of viewers have never paid. Lumikai’s State of India Interactive Media Report, cited by Mint and Variety, projects the Indian market at $4.5 billion by 2030.
The cheque sits beside other capital flowing through Indian screen businesses this autumn, including JioStar’s latest quarterly and earlier Instagram microdrama experiments that tested short-form serials outside dedicated apps. Coverage of deals and financing sits in Money & Policy.
Our reading
NBCUniversal’s minority cheque is less a content acquisition than a format and distribution option on India’s highest-frequency drama feed. For buyers and producers, the practical tests are whether Story TV’s international launch clears local-language supply without diluting the 95-minute habit, and whether Dolphin AI’s cost cut (Pandey says it replaces VFX and location spend, not actors) holds as volume scales past 250 titles a month. The next evidence that would settle the round’s weight is disclosed FY26 revenue and the first named overseas market for Story TV; until then the $500 million valuation remains a sourced third-party figure, not a company filing.
Sources
- Mint, EloElo Group raises $80 mn from Hornbill Capital, NBCUniversal, MIT, others (4 Nov 2026; Pandey interview)
- Variety, NBCUniversal, Hornbill Capital Back EloElo / Story TV in $80 Million Series C (3 Nov 2026 PT)
- TechCrunch, India’s EloElo nabs $80M from NBCUniversal (3 Nov 2026)
- Economic Times, EloElo Group raises $80 Million in Series C funding led by Hornbill Capital, NBCUniversal
- Frankfurter / ECB cross rate INR→USD (3 Nov 2026: 0.010554)