Gaming giant Krafton leads $48 mn funding in Indian start-up Pratilipi

Bengaluru: Online storytelling platform Pratilipi on Wednesday said it has raised $48 million in a funding round led by South Korean gaming company Krafton, which is the developer of popular Battlegrounds Mobile India game.

The existing investor Omidyar Network India also participated in the Series D round along with Hemesh Singh and Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy), Nishith Rastogi (Locus), Sahil Barua (Delhivery), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), Mekin Maheshwari (Udhyam), Amit Agarwal (NoBroker) and Ranjeet Pratap Singh, CEO, Pratilipi.

With over 3,70,000 creators and more than 30 million monthly active readers across 12 Indian languages, Bengaluru-based Pratilipi has raised $78.8 million to date.

"We can't wait to work together with Krafton and other investors on the next phase of our journey to take our stories and our storytellers to a much wider audience across the globe," said Ranjeet Pratap Singh, CEO, Pratilipi.

Pratilipi has received over 50 lakh stories which have been read over 500 crore times.

The platform also owns and operates Pratilipi Comics which is the largest online comic platform in the country. Pratilipi FM has over 280,000 audio stories and podcasts.

The new funds will help Pratilipi strengthen its IP acquisition and development across various formats including audio books, podcasts, comics, web series, movies and games, the company said. Pratilipi and Krafton will start working on finding best stories that can be translated into globally successful gaming franchises.

"It is exciting to see the growth of Indian local IPs in online literature, comics and audio platform in Pratilipi. With Pratilipi already having a multilingual platform for online literature, it is poised to become one of the strongest players in emerging markets in the future," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of Krafton's India Division. Pratilipi has also acquired two companies -- IVM Podcast and The Write Order.

"We are excited by the role Pratilipi can play in helping creators to monetise their talents across formats and contribute to increasing digital employment in the country," said Aditya Misra, Principal at Omidyar Network India.