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Kuku Technologies, the parent company of Kuku FM and Kuku TV, is building a 1,000-member AI-led content production unit as it looks to scale its microdrama business globally, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has already hired nearly 200 people for the Mumbai-based unit and plans to expand the team to around 1,000 by the end of the current financial year, the sources said. The hiring comes as Kuku has confidentially filed draft IPO papers with market regulator SEBI for a public issue of up to Rs 3,500 crore. The company is targeting a valuation of around $1.8 billion through the IPO. Kuku is bringing writers, filmmakers and engineers into the new AI-native unit. Writers will develop stories and dialogues, filmmakers will focus on visual direction, while engineers will build AI systems for areas such as narrative continuity across long-running series. Kuku expects AI to cut microdrama production costs to 30-50% of China’s, with production costing under $100 per minute versus over $150 in China, sources said. AI-led production can also help one person produce around 20 minutes of usable video a day, compared with about a minute through traditional shoots. Kuku declined to comment when contacted. Founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Kumar, and Vikas Goyal, Kuku operates vernacular audio platform Kuku FM, short-video app Kuku TV, and edutainment platform Guru. Across its platforms, Kuku claims to have over 10 million active paying subscribers, 400 million app downloads, and a content library of more than 60,000 hours spanning several Indian languages. The company has raised over $150 million from investors including Fundamentum Partnership, Krafton, Vertex Ventures, Granite Asia, IFC, Paramark Ventures, India Quotient, and 3one4 Capital. Former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni is also among its backers. According to sources, Kuku's revenue grew nearly sevenfold to more than Rs 1,400 crore in FY26 from Rs 240 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2025.
document fetched 2026-09-09 13:54