Startup funding in India may have its next big creator-economy round. Bengaluru-based live social entertainment platform Eloelo is in advanced stages of closing a $50-60 million (about ₹480-580 crore) funding round led by Hornbill Capital, with participation from existing investors, at a valuation of around $400 million, according to people familiar with the development. The round has not closed yet, so its final size could still change.
Story TV is driving the round
The engine behind the talks is Story TV, Eloelo's micro-drama arm, which offers short, vertically filmed fiction across genres such as romance and thrillers, made for phone screens. Annualised collections from Story TV have grown more than tenfold over the past year to around $250 million, helped by aggressive performance marketing. That growth is what has put a company founded by Akshay Dubey and Saurabh Pandey in July 2020 on course for a valuation more than three times its last mark.
A sharp step up
Eloelo previously raised $13.5 million, and was last valued at roughly $121 million after that round. A close at around $400 million would be a major repricing, and a sign of how quickly micro-drama has changed the company's story from live social entertainment to a content business with a fast-growing revenue engine.
Micro-dramas are built for how audiences actually watch now: in short bursts, on mobile, with episodes that end on cliffhangers. The format is already a large business in China, and Indian platforms are racing to adapt it for local languages and tastes.
Why it matters for founders
Eloelo's talks show investors will pay a premium when one product line compounds fast enough to rewrite the whole company's story. If you have a breakout vertical inside a broader platform, package its numbers separately — Story TV's tenfold collections growth is doing more fundraising work here than the parent brand ever did. And note the caution: until the round closes, treat the $50-60 million and $400 million figures as reported terms, not done deals.