EloElo raises $80 million in Series C funding; eyes global expansion of Story TV, doubles down on AI
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EloElo Group, the Bengaluru-based consumer AI and entertainment company behind micro-drama platform Story TV, has raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal. The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its original content slate, take Story TV to international markets and accelerate investments in its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.
The funding round also saw participation from MIT Investment Co. and existing investors Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners, among others. The latest fundraise takes EloElo Group’s total capital raised to $130 million.
In an interaction with Fortune India, Saurabh Pandey, founder and CEO of EloElo Group, said the company intends to deploy the capital across three key areas: developing premium micro-drama originals across Indian languages, expanding Story TV internationally and strengthening its AI capabilities, particularly Dolphin AI, its recently launched agentic AI creative suite.
“This fundraise increases our war chest further. We aim to deploy capital on three things: premium micro-drama originals across Indian languages, taking our playbook global and launching Story TV internationally, and doubling down on our AI initiatives, particularly Dolphin AI,” Pandey said.
The company also plans to expand its workforce across engineering, AI and content teams. Pandey said EloElo currently operates with a lean team but will strengthen these functions as it enters its next phase of growth.
EloElo eyes international markets, AI-led content production
While the company has not finalised the markets it intends to enter first, Pandey said the US remains an exciting opportunity. He believes the global micro-drama market still has room for a dominant platform. “It is too early to pick markets, but the US is definitely exciting. We believe there is no Netflix of micro dramas yet and we have a shot at the title. We are looking at launching internationally soon,” he said.
Story TV currently has a library of more than 5,000 micro dramas across six languages, with a new drama launched every three hours. The platform records 95 minutes of daily time spent per user. Across its various applications, EloElo Group has more than 40 million monthly active users and over 300 million installs.
Pandey said the company’s focus is not on setting user acquisition targets but on sustaining growth while maintaining profitability. The company also plans to expand into newer Indian languages, with particular attention to southern markets.
“Our targets are never on users but on growth and profitability, which we continue to deliver. We would continue scaling profitably and double down on newer languages, especially in the southern markets of India,” he said.
AI is another major component of the company’s expansion strategy. According to Pandey, around 75-80% of the workflows involved in producing EloElo’s micro dramas are already powered by AI. The company is increasingly looking at hybrid production models, where AI can replace expensive visual effects (VFX) and location requirements.
“About 75-80% of all our micro-drama workflows are powered by AI. We believe hybrid micro dramas, where AI replaces VFX and expensive locations, are a great way to go. Our cost of producing a micro drama has gone down despite content scaling nearly 2X in the last few months,” Pandey said.
The company’s AI ambitions extend beyond its own content production. Dolphin AI, its agentic AI creative suite, is expected to receive further investment as EloElo looks to strengthen its AI-powered production capabilities.
The participation of NBCUniversal in the funding round could also provide the company with access to industry expertise as it expands internationally. Pandey said the company is looking forward to working with both NBCUniversal and Hornbill Capital on content development and AI capabilities.
“We are very excited to have NBCUniversal along with Hornbill Capital coming in as investors. We would work with them on a deeper understanding of building new storylines and doubling down on our AI capabilities. Beyond capital, it is the experience that they bring in which we value a lot,” he said.