Bengaluru, India: EloElo Group, the consumer AI and entertainment company behind Story TV, India’s No. 1 micro drama platform, today announced an $80 million Series C led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal. MIT Investment Co. and existing investors Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners & others also participated.

Founded in Bengaluru in 2020 by former Flipkart executive Saurabh Pandey, EloElo Group has built Story TV into the format’s leader in India: a slate of over 5,000 micro dramas in six languages, a new drama launched every three hours and 95 minutes of time spent per user every day. The group also runs Master (micro learning), Dolphin AI (its agentic AI creative suite) and Voxy AI (an AI companion agent). Across its apps, EloElo Group has over 40 million monthly active users.

The fundraise brings EloElo Group’s total capital raised to $130 million to date. This milestone comes as the company achieved multi-fold revenue growth over the last year. What sets the company apart is that it owns all three layers: the content, the distribution and the AI-powered production engine.

Saurabh Pandey, Founder and CEO of EloElo Group, said “A billion people now reach for the phone before any other screen, and the entertainment built for them will be video first, in their own language, in episodes that fit their day. That is the business EloElo Group is building: an AI-powered entertainment ecosystem that brings the next billion viewers storytelling beyond just clips. Story TV shows us what India wants to watch, and Dolphin AI gives us the economics to make it, which is how we have scaled with solid unit economics. Consumer AI will change how content is created, distributed and consumed, and we intend to lead that shift from India. This Series C deepens our content across languages, with a sharper focus on premium originals, doubles down on Dolphin AI, and takes what we have built to more audiences and more markets.”

Micro dramas are among the fastest-growing formats in global entertainment. According to Omdia, the industry will generate $14 billion globally by the end of 2026. In India, Redseer estimates that 40 million people paid for a microdrama at

least once in FY26, and Lumikai’s State of India Interactive Media Report projects the market will reach $4.5 billion by 2030. Story TV leads the format in India.

“EloElo Group combines strong creative capabilities with the ability to scale content through technology, which is something we deeply believe in. The team’s execution, financial discipline, and AI capabilities position it well for its next phase of growth. We are excited to support them in building category-leading businesses at the intersection of AI & content,” said Manoj Thakur, Founder and Managing Partner of Hornbill Capital.

“At NBCUniversal, we see significant opportunity in mobile-first storytelling and emerging formats like micro dramas to engage audiences and meet evolving viewing habits. Under Saurabh’s leadership, EloElo has developed a differentiated, mobile-first approach with a clear focus on content and storytelling, positioning the company for long-term success. We’re excited to bring NBCUniversal’s global capabilities to the partnership as EloElo expands beyond India, including into the U.S. market,” said Deepak Arya, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Development at NBCUniversal.

The company said it will use the Series C capital to fund new original content across local languages, launch its micro dramas internationally, and continue investments in Dolphin AI along with other business initiatives. Avendus Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor on this funding roun