Kuku Technologies plans Rs 3,500 crore IPO and AI-led production unit

MUMBAI: Kuku is putting more brains behind the screen. Kuku Technologies, the parent of Kuku FM and Kuku TV, is building a 1,000-member artificial intelligence-led production unit as it scales its microdrama business, while simultaneously preparing for a proposed Rs 3,500 crore initial public offering.

According to an ET report, the company has confidentially filed draft IPO papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The proposed issue is expected to comprise a fresh issue of shares as well as an offer for sale by existing investors.

The public-market push comes as Kuku doubles down on short-form, mobile-first entertainment. Kuku TV, launched in late 2024, focuses on short episodic video content designed for smartphone viewing, with microdramas emerging as a key part of its strategy.

For Kuku, artificial intelligence is not simply another production tool. It is being positioned as a way to change the economics and speed of making content. Speaking at the Storyboard18 Global GenZ Summit, Kuku Co-Founder and COO Vinod Kumar Meena said AI can compress production cycles that once took months into weeks, while shortening script development and feedback loops.

The impact, he said, extends beyond making shows. Kuku can now assign two or three people to a new business or product experiment, put in a relatively small budget and have a first version ready within a week. That version can then be tested with consumers, with user data feeding the next iteration.

This allows the company to run substantially more experiments than it could when each idea required larger teams, longer development cycles and higher upfront costs.

The approach fits neatly with the way India is consuming entertainment. Meena said the journey from theatres to television and OTT and now mobile has increased both the volume of content available and the formats through which audiences consume it. Microdramas, with episodes that can run for around two minutes, take that mobile-first habit a step further.

Consumers are also increasingly willing to pay for digital entertainment. Meena pointed to the expansion of paid OTT consumption in India, noting that platforms including Jio, Prime, Netflix and Zee together have more than 200 million paying customers.

Kuku’s proposed IPO is expected to fund investments in technology and AI infrastructure, content creation and expansion into new geographies. The company is also changing its approach to hiring as AI becomes more deeply embedded in its operations, with Meena saying it gives preference to people who graduated after the beginning of the AI era because of their familiarity with AI tools and experimentation.

The strategy marks a broader shift in how Kuku approaches content. Instead of betting heavily on long planning and development cycles, the company is looking to build smaller experiments, put them in front of consumers and use the response to decide what comes next.

Kuku’s journey to the IPO starts with audio. Founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Kumar and Vikas Goyal, the company operates Kuku FM, Kuku TV and learning platform Guru. It has since expanded into video and short-form scripted entertainment as microdramas gain traction in India.

Kuku TV has crossed 200 million downloads and releases more than 150 original shows a month, according to reports.

With a 1,000-member AI-led production operation in the works and a Rs 3,500 crore IPO proposal moving through the confidential filing route, Kuku is effectively trying to scale two things at once: the amount of content it can produce and the speed at which it can discover what audiences want to watch.