NBCUniversal and Hornbill Capital have co-led an $80 million Series C investment in EloElo Group, the Bengaluru company behind Indian microdrama platform Story TV, Variety reported. The round raises EloElo’s total funding to $130 million.
Investors and intended spending
MIT Investment Co. joined existing investors including Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners. Avendus Capital served as the transaction’s sole financial adviser.
Founded in 2020 by former Flipkart executive Saurabh Pandey, EloElo plans to spend the new capital on original programming in local languages, overseas microdrama launches and further development of Dolphin AI.
NBCUniversal strategy executive Deepak Arya highlighted opportunities in storytelling designed for mobile audiences. In comments carried by Variety, he described international expansion, including the US, as part of the partnership’s outlook.
Company metrics and industry forecasts
EloElo says Story TV carries more than 5,000 microdramas in six languages, adds a title every three hours and records average daily usage of 95 minutes.
The group also operates learning app Master, AI companion Voxy AI and creative suite Dolphin AI. It reports more than 40 million monthly active users across its apps and over 300 million installations.
For industry context, Variety cites Omdia’s forecast of $14 billion in global microdrama revenue in 2026. Redseer estimates that 40 million Indians made a microdrama purchase in fiscal 2026, while Lumikai projects a $4.5 billion Indian market by 2030. These projections accompany the company’s stated plans to expand its content and technology businesses.