Business · 2026-11-04 · Morning briefing

Indian microdrama app EloElo raises $80m from NBCUniversal

Indian microdrama firm EloElo has secured $80m in a Series C funding round co-led by NBCUniversal and Hornbill Capital. The investment values the four-year-old company at $500m and brings its total capital raised to $130m. EloElo's flagship app, Story TV, has over 33 million active users watching its short, serialized video content.

The funding targets India's fast-growing market for phone-first entertainment, where an estimated 118m people watch microdramas monthly. Story TV offers a catalogue of over 5,000 titles in six languages, with users logging an average of 95 minutes on the app daily. EloElo will use the new capital to produce more original titles and expand its artificial intelligence research team.

Converting eyeballs into revenue remains a challenge across the sector. While 40m people in India have paid for microdrama content at least once, analysts report only 15-17m are recurring monthly subscribers. A separate survey found that 72% of viewers have never paid at all, a significant hurdle for platforms competing with free content on YouTube.

Summary written by Cup of News with AI from the sources below. Check the originals for the full story.

Read the sources

• India’s EloElo nabs $80M from NBCUniversal to bet on the country’s rising microdrama market
• India’s EloElo Raises $80 Million From NBCUniversal to Fuel India’s Microdrama Boom
• EloElo Group raises $80M in Series C led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal
• EloElo Group raises $80 million led by Hornbill Capital, NBCUniversal to fuel microdrama, consumer AI ambitions
• EloElo raises $ 80mn Series C led by Hornbill Capital; eyes US expansion

More stories in this edition

1. Democrats seize control of US Congress in midterm elections
2. Spain's transport minister resigns after train crash kills 69
3. ANC support plummets in South Africa's local elections
4. Russian strikes on Ukrainian aid centres and hospitals kill 38
5. UK and EU draft deal to scrap Brexit food export checks
6. China's state airlines pivot to overseas routes amid domestic slump
7. Canva to restructure, affecting 1,200 jobs as growth slows
8. Canada: One dead, one missing in suspected grizzly attack
9. Foot-stiffening socks reduce running effort by 2%

Read the whole edition