The OTT audio platform Kuku Technologies has pulled off one of the sharpest turnarounds in India's startup ecosystem. In FY26, the company reported a profit of ₹182.7 Cr — a dramatic reversal from a loss of ₹152.6 Cr in FY25.
The top line tells the story of explosive scale: operating revenue zoomed 6X year-on-year to ₹1,484.2 Cr. At the operating level, Kuku swung to an EBITDA profit of ₹82.9 Cr in FY26, from an EBITDA loss of ₹159.8 Cr the year before. The bottom line was aided by a deferred tax credit of ₹98.2 Cr, while expenses surged 3.5X to ₹1,421.8 Cr — a reminder that the growth came at a real cost.
The profitable show arrives at exactly the right moment. Kuku has already received SEBI's nod for its likely ₹2,500 Cr IPO, which could potentially value the company at around ₹15,000 Cr. The company has raised over $156 million to date, and is now heading to Dalal Street as a profitable, high-growth audio platform.
Kuku's journey is a textbook case of what India's new-age companies are being asked to deliver: hyper-growth first, then a hard pivot to profitability before the public listing. In a market where the median startup IPO investor is now forensic about unit economics, a loss-to-profit swing of this scale is precisely the narrative that opens the public-market door.
Why it matters for founders
Kuku's 6X revenue growth followed by a ₹335 Cr swing in profitability shows the playbook for a successful tech IPO: scale first, prove the operating model, then list. If you're two years from an IPO, the time to engineer that pivot is now — the market rewards the turnaround narrative richly.