Online storytelling platform Pratilipi has raised $48 million (about Rs 357 crore) in its Series D round, led by South Korean gaming company Krafton Inc.
Existing investor, Omidyar Network India, also participated in the round along with a clutch of startup founders, including Gaurav Munjal, cofounder of Unacademy; Sahil Barua, cofounder of Delhivery and Vidit Aatrey, the cofounder of Meesho.
Pratilipi has raised $78.8 million so far, including the latest round.
The funding will help the company strengthen its IP acquisition and development across various formats including audio books, podcasts, comics, web series, movies and games.
Part of the investment will be utilised for expansion into several overseas markets, the company said.
“Over the last 12-18 months, we have seen a lot of progress, expanding into some new formats as well as finding newer ways for our creators to be successful,” said chief executive Ranjeet Pratap Singh.
The Bengaluru-based company is a storytelling community with over 3,70,000 creators and over 30 million monthly active readers across 12 Indian languages, it said.
Founded in 2015 by Singh, Prashant Gupta, Sahradayi Modi, Rahul Ranjan and Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Pratilipi also owns and operates Pratilipi Comics, podcasting studio IVM Podcast, and Pratilipi FM.
Krafton has been betting big on the Indian market and the capital infusion is part of efforts to back businesses in India.
ET reported earlier this week that Krafton may invest more than its committed $100 million in India.
Last month, Krafton led a $9 million funding round in Loco, a homegrown streaming platform for video games.
“We believe in the long-term potential of local Indian IPs that can be successful not just in India but globally as well across formats including literature, comics and gaming and our investment in Pratilipi is another step in realising that vision,” said Krafton’s India division head Sean Hyunil Sohn in a statement.
Krafton launched Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the local version of its popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), on July 2. The mobile version of PUBG – published by Chinese internet major Tencent in India – was banned last year as part of a wider crackdown on Chinese apps.
