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Tag: Saurabh Pandey

  • Story TV tests love with Sach Ya Kalesh

    Story TV tests love with Sach Ya Kalesh

    MUMBAI: Now that’s what you call a match made in microdrama heaven! Story TV, India’s leading microdrama platform from the Eloelo Group, is set to shake up digital entertainment with Sach Ya Kalesh, the country’s first-ever microdrama reality show.

    Hosted by the nation’s favourite matchmaker, Sima Taparia, the show dives headfirst into the messy, magical world of modern relationships. Featuring nine real-life couples, each episode will see them face a lie detector test that puts their love, and their honesty, to the ultimate test. The tagline says it all, Har relationship ka asli test.

    Shot in a crisp vertical format designed for mobile-first viewers, the show blends the drama of reality TV with the bite-sized fun of micro content. Expect Sima ji’s trademark sass, awkward confessions, emotional meltdowns, and maybe even a few breakups, all in real time.

    “Sach Ya Kalesh marks a new chapter for India’s entertainment industry,” said  Story TV founder and CEO Saurabh Pandey. “It’s raw, relatable and designed for today’s spontaneous audiences. This is TV 2.0, right in the palm of your hand.”

    Sima Taparia, thrilled about her new hosting role, added, “Modern love is complicated. This show is honest, emotional and full of surprises. What you see on screen is real, the love, the fights, and the chaos.”

    Produced by Aarambh Entertainment, Sach Ya Kalesh will drop new episodes daily starting 2nd November exclusively on the Story TV app.

    With this launch, Story TV continues to lead the microdrama revolution, aiming to release over 800 titles and onboard 100 million users in the next year. And if Sach Ya Kalesh is any hint, drama and love, just found a brand-new format to thrive in.

  • Balaji Telefilms and Story TV forge alliance for micro-dramas

    Balaji Telefilms and Story TV forge alliance for micro-dramas

    MUMBAI: India’s Balaji Telefilms, the production house behind two decades of television hits, has teamed up with Story TV, a fledgling micro-drama platform, to flood smartphones with bite-sized narratives tailored for impatient viewers.

    The collaboration promises original content spanning multiple genres and languages, designed for vertical screens and short attention spans. Story TV, launched earlier this year by the Eloelo group, claims 10 million users already—a rapid ascent for a platform banking on one-minute episodes.

    “Micro dramas will be more than a $5 billion market in the next three years,” predicts Story TV founder & chief executive Saurabh Pandey. “Together with Balaji, our exclusive partnership will make micro dramas a staple across India.”

    Balaji Telefilms  jt managing director Ekta Kapoor calls the alliance “a game-changer, setting the stage for powerful, fresh storytelling that’s fearless and fast-paced.”

    Balaji brings decades of audience trust and a catalogue of iconic serials to a format that strips storytelling down to its essentials.

    Balaji Telefilms chief executive Sanjay Dwivedi frames it as evolution. “Micro dramas represent an exciting frontier—short, impactful, and designed for today’s mobile-first viewers,” he says. “This collaboration allows us to take our storytelling legacy into a new format.”

    Story TV has already amassed over 300 original micro-dramas with titles like Mafia Don, Secret Soldier and Hacker King. The platform’s vertical-video approach aligns with consumption habits shaped by social media, where brevity trumps depth and swipes outnumber sits.

    The partnership marks a significant bet on India’s appetite for culturally rooted stories delivered at breakneck speed—entertainment reimagined for thumbs, not remotes.

  • Hello Eloelo bags Rs 114 crore as gamified livestreams go prime time

    Hello Eloelo bags Rs 114 crore as gamified livestreams go prime time

    MUMBAI: If India’s social media scene were a dancefloor, Eloelo just dropped the bass. The interactive livestreaming platform has raised Rs 114.3 crore (13.5 million dollars) in Series B funding led by Play Ventures, with participation from Kalaari Capital, MIXI Investments, Gameskraft Technologies, Griffin Gaming Partners, Waterbridge Ventures, Courtside Ventures, and Rocket Capital.

    Eloelo, which describes itself as the “digital third place for Bharat,” is blending gamified livestreams, vernacular creator tools, and AI-led community-building into a potent entertainment cocktail and the party’s just getting started. This latest round takes the platform’s total funding to over 50 million dollars, following a 22 million dollars raise just last year.

    Eloelo founder & CEO Saurabh Pandey says, “Eloelo is bringing the ‘Social’ back in consumer social platforms at a time when most platforms are built for passive content viewing. We believe that feeling connected to others is a primary human need of belongingness, and we are solving that across 8 languages by connecting Indians over interactive livestreams with games, chat & virtual gifting to express their emotions. With close to 400 Million aspirational middle India consumers, we believe this is a massive underserved market which needs India-first solutions. Extremely proud of our team that has built a platform that handles large scale concurrency in live streams in 8+ languages along with building gen-AI tools to empower creators. The Series B round shows us the belief that our existing and new investors place on our vision and execution ability”

    And engage they have. With over 1.5 million paying users, the platform has already hit an annual revenue run rate of Rs 200 crore (23M dollars) within a year of switching on monetisation in May 2024.

    What makes Eloelo stand out is its zero-ad, no-paywall strategy. The platform thrives entirely on microtransactions, virtual gifts, fan support, and gamified features allowing creators to directly monetise their audiences. Over 20,000 creators are already earning through the platform, streaming in over eight Indian languages.

    Speaking on Eloelo’s revenue, Saurabh added, “We switched on monetization in May 2024 after 2-3 years of building the platform capabilities and scaling rapidly to hit PMF. In less than a year of launch, we are now hitting a 200 crore Annual revenue run rate ($23M ARR) with 1.5 Million paying users and are one of the fastest growing platforms in India at this scale. Consumer Tech in India is going through a massive shift away from ad-first models to micro payments, and we are happy to be powering this shift. Gone are the days when India was the MAU farm of the world – we are here to prove that the Bharat-first models have massive monetization potential as we track towards a 60M dollars run rate by end of this year. Beyond just numbers, the impact I am truly proud of at Eloelo is that more than 20,000 creators are now earning a livelihood by streaming and building their own digital communities”

    With India’s interactive entertainment and gaming space now worth 12 billion dollars (out of a 25 billion dollars total M&E market), and growing at a 16 per cent CAGR according to Lumikai, Eloelo is positioning itself as a frontrunner in a post-advertising digital world.

    The fresh capital will fuel the company’s next leg of growth: deeper generative AI use cases, further monetisation innovation, and international expansion targeting the Indian diaspora.

    As Eloelo scales, it’s not just playing to win, it’s rewriting the rules of how India’s social entertainment is consumed, created, and cashed in.

  • Eloelo app appoints Sagar Gaonkar as CTO

    Eloelo app appoints Sagar Gaonkar as CTO

    Mumbai: Eloelo, India’s homegrown live social media platform, is excited to announce the appointment of Sagar Gaonkar as its new chief technology officer (CTO). With over 16 years of video streaming and OTT technology expertise, Sagar will spearhead innovation, technological strategy, and compliance at Eloelo.

    Sagar Gaonkar brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at ShareChat and Disney+ Hotstar. At ShareChat, he excelled as an engineer lead, driving product conceptualisation and technical initiatives for Live streaming. His tenure at Hotstar & 100ms further solidified his reputation as a leader in the live streaming domain.

    Commenting on the appointment, Eloelo founder & CEO Saurabh Pandey said, “We are thrilled to welcome Sagar as our chief technology officer for advancing our mission of being the digital companion for India’s youth via Interactive streaming & games. His deep understanding of the live streaming industry aligns perfectly with our focus on building a vertical social entertainment platform focused on live streaming across video & audio. Sagar’s expertise will be pivotal in scaling our platform and enhancing both user & creator experience.”

    Speaking about joining Eloelo app, Sagar Gaonkar expressed his delight and added ”Joining Eloelo during a time of rapid growth in live streaming in India is incredibly exciting. I am deeply inspired by Saurabh’s mission to create a secure and interactive digital third place for India. My focus will be on expediting feature rollouts, enhancing platform stability, and ensuring a seamless and secure experience for our users & creators.”

    Eloelo currently ranks in the top three on Google Play Store in the entertainment category and serves over 75 million users in India with content available in six Indian languages. The platform has raised over $37 million from global and national investors, including Courtside, Waterbridge Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, Lumikai Fund and Kalaari Capital.

     

  • Eloelo App launches anti-Valentine’s digital campaign #KunwaraDiwas

    Eloelo App launches anti-Valentine’s digital campaign #KunwaraDiwas

    Mumbai: Eloelo, a homegrown live social-media app, launched an anti-Valentine’s campaign with Big Boss fame, Abhishek Malhan aka Fukra Insaan. The company filed a nation-wide petition on change.org to rename Valentine’s Day to #KunwaraDiwas.

    change.org

    Eloelo founder & CEO Saurabh Pandey said, “We saw a barrage of comments and clips online by the new age Indians expressing annoyance and distress with Valentine’s Day. Singles have been calling out for their own day and celebration amidst all the noise around Couples on Valentine’s Day. We at Eloelo decided to stand by all ‘Kunwaras’ this Valentine’s and to demand for their equal rights, we have started a petition on change.org to rename Valentine’s Day to #KunwaraDiwas.”

    Eloelo partnered with Abhishek Malhan to help voice the callout for renaming Valentine’s Day. Abhishek in his own inimitable style proclaimed his feelings to his fans and supporters on X(twitter). Eloelo is also promoting the campaign in various colleges of Delhi-University.

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    A post shared by Eloelo app (@eloelo_app)

     

    Commenting on the association with Eloelo, Abhishek Malhan said, “ I have always advocated for love and laughter and I strongly believe nobody should feel left out on Valentine’s Day! Being single isn’t a curse, it’s a comedy of errors, and we should celebrate this day for being single also. I’m really excited to partner Eloelo and launch the petition to rename Valentine’s Day to #Kunawara Diwas.”

    Eloelo is a homegrown live social media platform established in 2020, is defining a digital third place for the new age Indian. A live social entertainment app, Eloelo appeals directly to the need of young Indians to communicate with each other, express themselves, and fulfill their desire to participate in digital communities with like-minded people. Ranked in the Top 1 in India on the Google Play Store for Entertainment, it seamlessly integrates audio and video live chatrooms with interactive games and shows, fostering connections between over 40 million users and 400K creators.

    For Valentine’s Day last year, Eloelo had launched India’s first online reality show, Love House. The show was streamed live for 144 hours, passing the world record for a continuous live stream on a mobile phone. The show observed four million views on livestream across six days, with a peak concurrency of over 200k viewers. Love House also served as a distribution channel for Bollywood movie Shehzada’s promotion.

  • Eloelo secures $22M in pre-series B round led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners

    Eloelo secures $22M in pre-series B round led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners

    Mumbai: Eloelo, India’s leading live entertainment and social gaming platform, announced raising $22 million in its pre-series B round. The round was jointly led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners, joined by MIXI Inc along with existing backers Waterbridge Ventures, Lumikai Fund, Kalaari Capital,  Convivialite Ventures and Rocket Capital investing in the round.

    With this fresh funding, Eloelo has now raised a total of $37.5 million. The funds from this round will be utilized to forge partnerships with creators, develop innovative tools across AI & AR for them, attract a broader pool of tech and product talent, and strengthen revenue generation and monetisation initiatives. The round comes 14 months after its Series A round of $13 million in June 2022.

    “Courtside is thrilled to co-lead the investment in Eloelo alongside Griffin Gaming Partners,” said Courtside Ventures Partner Kai Bond. “Eloelo is pioneering a new form of entertainment in India.  Through a unique combination of game participation within live streaming, they are building the next generation of social networking that enables true interactivity within their community”.

    Eloelo, ranks among the top three apps in India on the Google Play Store in Entertainment, combining audio and video live chatrooms with interactive games and shows that enable millions of users and creators to connect with each other. The platform has over 37 million users and 120K creators.

    Eloelo CEO & founder Saurabh Pandey said, “Eloelo wants to be a “party in your pocket”, where users are not just watching a livestream but are part of the experience. Social Media is supposed to help you belong but most alternatives let you consume content solitarily. We are pioneering a new category of Live Social Entertainment– almost like a ‘Digital Third Place’ where young Indians are always connected. Our growth of 400% Y-o-Y showcases the love users have given the product. This fundraising in such a testing macro environment further enforces the belief our investors have in our vision”.  

    Eloelo is leading with a unique blend of Live Entertainment with Games and Communities — a contemporary social network tailored to the communication preferences of young Indians. The company’s primary distinguishing features include its ability to get users to simply push-t0-talk inside various chat rooms, in-house games integrated into live streams and its focus on clean entertainment for family audiences.

    “At Griffin, we’re inspired by India’s rapidly evolving market landscape, led by innovative companies like Eloelo. Through the magic of gamification, Eloelo is transforming live streams into captivating experiences that translate to deep audience engagement. The platform has attracted a vast community of content creators, driving its growth to nearly 40 million users — a striking testament to the potential ahead for Eloelo”, said Griffin Gaming Partners managing director & co-founder Nick Tuosto.

    A CYG report estimates the global live-streaming market at $46 billion, with India’s current share at $2 billion. Eloelo is steadily launching various ways for creators to generate revenue, including gifting inside chatrooms, participation in group audio calls, and hosting game shows.

    “As EloElo’s first VC partner, we are impressed with their scale and evolution from a live gaming app to a platform bringing audiences together in multiple live formats. Its immersive, engaging, product-led approach has made it the go-to app for audiences and creators alike. With this funding, Eloelo is set to further establish itself as the preferred digital destination for India’s social and entertainment needs”, said Waterbridge Ventures partner Anjali Sosale.

    Lumikai Fund’s founding general partner Salone Sehgal said, “Saurabh and Team Eloelo’s bold vision to design a truly India-first, participatory social entertainment platform, is disrupting existing entertainment mediums like TV. Eloelo’s category-leading interactive formats have transcended gender, age and language barriers to become a true digital destination.”

    The App is live in six languages and aims to add many more in the next few months seeing the adoption from Tier two, three audiences. It uses a blend of AI and manual content moderation to maintain a secure environment for all users.