EloElo Raises $80M Series C for Story TV and AI Studio

A production budget commits money to stories before the audience has had a chance to like them. EloElo Group is bringing that familiar entertainment risk into the development of its own AI studio, connecting the work of making mobile dramas with the business of finding viewers for them.

The Bengaluru company has raised $80M in a Series C co-led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, bringing its reported aggregate funding to $130M. Founder and CEO Saurabh Pandey is directing the next phase toward regional-language originals, international expansion for Story TV and further investment in Dolphin AI, its creative production system.

That combination gives the financing a wider purpose than adding shows to an app. EloElo is developing technology against the demands of an entertainment business it already operates, while bringing a global media institution into its investor group. Producing for more audiences will put creative judgment, production capacity and distribution decisions on the same expanding work list.

What EloElo's $80M Series C includes

The funding disclosure from Kalaari Capital names MIT Investment Management Co. alongside returning investors Play Ventures, WaterBridge Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners and Kalaari itself. Its investor note is dated October 24, 2026; detailed company reporting in Mint and Business Standard followed on November 4. Those are public-source dates, rather than a disclosed legal closing date.

The round also has a capital-accounting detail worth keeping intact. Saurabh Pandey told Mint in a direct interview that more than 95% is fresh capital, with a small portion going toward exits by early angel investors. The headline amount therefore includes a secondary component, and the $130M figure describes total funding reported across the company's history.

For the operating business, that means the financing supports a set of connected investments rather than a single production order. A regional original needs commissioning, a story needs a route to viewers, and a production tool needs engineering work before another team can depend on it. Keeping those assignments distinct helps explain why EloElo is raising for content, technology and expansion together.

NBCUniversal's participation gives the company a partner with international entertainment capabilities. The disclosed investment and expansion intentions leave the precise commercial arrangements open, including how any future production, licensing or distribution relationship might work.

The creator problem behind EloElo's changing business

WaterBridge's account of its investment traces EloElo to Saurabh Pandey's experience helping his mother develop a YouTube audience. The firm backed the business in 2020, when the product was still an early idea, and describes supporting subsequent moves into different entertainment formats. A creator's difficulty getting seen has remained a useful question through those changes.

Historical investor records also identify Akshay Dubey as a cofounder. The current leadership record is clearer about Saurabh Pandey, whom Kalaari's portfolio page identifies as founder and CEO. That distinction matters in a company whose product portfolio has evolved substantially since its early live entertainment and social gaming work.

Today, Story TV carries microdramas, Master provides short learning content, Voxy AI develops interactive companion experiences, and Dolphin AI supports creative production. The products address different reasons for picking up a phone. Someone looking for a practical lesson arrives with a different expectation from someone following a continuing fictional story, even when both experiences fit into a short break.

The commercial connection is the group's effort to understand those habits and build around them. Returning investors have financed several versions of that effort, giving the latest round a history that a list of backers alone cannot explain. EloElo's next stage carries the accumulated choices of a business that has repeatedly adjusted what it makes for its audience.

Dolphin AI has an entertainment business to build for

Kalaari describes Dolphin AI as a production tool developed inside EloElo that has grown into an agentic studio. Its stated focus includes multiple shots, character consistency and visual continuity, the connective work required to turn generated material into a coherent sequence. Those are product descriptions, rather than independently measured technical results.

The operating relationship is useful to understand on its own terms. A team commissioning a series can give its production-tool colleagues a more specific assignment than making an impressive demonstration. Characters need to remain recognizable, scenes need to connect, and an editor needs material that can become a finished story. Those requirements give an internal studio concrete problems to work against.

Story TV also puts distribution inside the same group. Audience response can inform editorial decisions, which in turn can shape the next production assignment. That connection offers a practical reason for EloElo to develop its own tools: the company has recurring content work to do, as well as a place to discover which stories viewers choose to follow.

DevCuration's VideoGen funding coverage provides another view of investment in AI video workflows. There are different businesses inside EloElo's production relationship. Operating a consumer entertainment app involves commissioning, programming and monetization; supplying creative software requires a dependable workflow for the people using it. As Dolphin's ambitions extend beyond internal use, EloElo will have to carry the requirements of those additional creators into a system developed around its own production needs.

More languages bring more editorial decisions

In his Business Standard interview, Saurabh Pandey described subscriptions as the main source of revenue, alongside advertising that lets viewers unlock episodes. He also described international expansion as an area under consideration, including the US, rather than presenting a settled first-country launch schedule. More regional originals remain part of the company's plans at home.

That revenue model gives the production work an ongoing commercial consequence. A subscription service needs people to find enough value in the catalogue to keep paying, while an advertising-supported viewing route depends on continued attention. A larger supply of stories creates more chances to serve different tastes, along with more decisions about which productions deserve the next investment.

Regional-language commissioning makes those decisions particularly specific. The language is part of the audience relationship, alongside the characters, setting and expectations that make a story feel worth continuing. Tools that help assemble a sequence still leave a team deciding what it should say and whom it should speak to.

EloElo's new investors are financing that work alongside the software built to support it. As Story TV prepares to reach further, its commissioning teams will be choosing stories for familiar viewers while learning how much has to change for an audience elsewhere. Dolphin's engineers will have those choices arriving in the next production brief.