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The Storytelling Startup That Gave Bharat a Voice
How Pratilipi quietly built a multi-format IP empire by unlocking India’s regional imagination
Think Tank
May 20, 2025
In partnership with
While most startups built for India’s top 100 million, Pratilipi quietly built for the next billion — in their language, on their terms.
In a country where storytelling has always been sacred, from handwritten letters to late-night folklore, one company turned that emotion into an ecosystem.
No virality. No celebrities. Just the power of words, in the language people think in.
This is the story of how Pratilipi didn’t just unlock regional content, they unlocked regional creators. And in the process, started building India’s biggest IP engine.
Let’s dive in.
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Table of Contents
The Founding Chapter: A Reader’s Pain Became a Nation’s Platform
In 2014, Ranjeet Pratap Singh, an avid Hindi reader was frustrated.
He couldn’t find the kind of stories he grew up loving online. Kindle, blogs, Reddit… they were built for English-first readers in urban cities. But what about the rest?
That frustration became a pitch - and eventually, a platform. And along with four other co-founders - Sahradayi Modi, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, Rahul Ranjan, and Prashant Gupta - he built Pratilipi: a platform to read and write in Indian languages.
The insight was simple: India doesn’t lack readers or writers. It lacks access and visibility.
The Product: Building for Bharat’s Imagination
Pratilipi wasn’t just a blogging site. It was a movement.
Writers could publish stories, poems, and ideas in 12 Indian languages.
Readers could engage - like, share, bookmark, comment.
Everything was free, and everything was created by users.
While English platforms competed on algorithmic feeds, Pratilipi competed on cultural familiarity. People came for the stories and stayed for the voices.
By 2025, the platform hosts:
15M+ stories
1.6M+ writers
12M+ monthly active readers
Languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, Odia, Urdu, and English
And the average user doesn’t just scroll - they read.
Engagement is sticky. Stories are bingeable. And creators keep coming back.
From Platform to Powerhouse: Building the IP Stack
Pratilipi could’ve remained a self-publishing portal. But it didn’t.
It quietly morphed into a multi-format content IP factory - adapting text into audio, audio into comics, comics into books, and books into shows.
Here’s how the platform evolved from text to a content powerhouse:
1. Pratilipi FM
India’s love for audio exploded. So did Pratilipi’s.
Daily audio dramas
Narrated stories in native languages
Bite-sized and binge-worthy content
819K+ monthly listeners, clocking 76 minutes/day on average
2. Pratilipi Comics
To tap into Gen Z and the visual crowd, Pratilipi launched its own webcomic universe.
Serialized graphic novels
Local stories, local heroes
130K+ daily active users
A subscription model to access exclusive content, early chapters, and premium series. It:
Monetizes attention
Pays writers royalties
Distributed ₹1+ crore to creators in August 2024 alone
4. Strategic Acquisitions
To go full-stack, Pratilipi bought out:
IVM Podcasts (India’s top podcast network)
The Write Order (a large self-publishing platform)
Westland Books (ex-Amazon, legacy publishing house)
That’s not a startup. That’s an IP syndicate in the making.
What Makes Pratilipi Work ?
1. Built for Bharat, Not Silicon Valley
While most platforms optimized for English-speaking urban India, Pratilipi saw white space in Bharat - where language was both a barrier and a bridge.
By focusing on vernacular-first users, they created a cultural moat.
Business Impact: This gave them a hyper-engaged user base underserved by global players. It also allowed them to scale cheaply - through word-of-mouth and creator-led growth, not expensive user acquisition.
2. Creators, Not Content
Where most platforms see “content” as inventory, Pratilipi sees creators as assets.
They provide:
Publishing tools
Real-time dashboards
Monetization options like royalties and gated content
A loyal fanbase
This leads to creator retention, content consistency, and organic growth.
Business Impact: Pratilipi becomes a vertically integrated platform - owning both the distribution and some IP rights. That’s monetizable through subscriptions, licensing, and downstream media formats.
3. A Story-First IP Machine
On Pratilipi, a single story isn’t the end product - it’s the seed.
It can:
Become an audiobook on Pratilipi FM
Be adapted into a comic
Get published via Westland Books
Be pitched for OTT shows or films
And Pratilipi either owns or co-owns that pipeline.
Business Impact: They’re not just a tech platform - they’re building an IP studio at scale. Every story is a potential revenue stream across formats.
4. Slow Scaling, Done Right
No 10x growth-for-the-sake-of-growth. Every product layer - FM, Comics, Publishing - was tested, validated, and audience-ready before launch.
They expanded like an author writing a book: one chapter at a time.
Business Impact: This reduced burn, improved retention, and kept product quality high - essential for a long-tail platform that depends on trust and emotion, not trends.
5. Revenue with Respect
Pratilipi doesn’t flood users with ads or bait them with algorithmic junk.
Instead, it monetizes through:
Premium Subscriptions (Pratilipi Premium)
Licensing & Publishing Deals
Royalties & Direct Payments to Writers
Audio/OTT/IP Licensing
This builds a long-term relationship with users and creators - and creates diversified, non-intrusive revenue streams.
Business Impact: Monetization isn’t disruptive. It’s additive - reinforcing user trust while unlocking scalable income.
The Challenges Pratilipi Still Faces
For all its progress, Pratilipi’s journey is far from smooth. In building India’s largest storytelling platform, they’ve stepped into a space with no playbook - and the path ahead still has steep climbs.
Here are the biggest challenges still on their desk:
Monetizing Emotion Is Hard
Pratilipi built for passion, not profit - and that’s both its strength and weakness.
While millions read and write for free, only a fraction pay. Converting deep love for storytelling into consistent subscription revenue isn’t just a pricing issue - it’s a cultural one.
The trade-off? User growth came easy. Revenue growth didn’t.Creator Retention in the Age of AI
Generative AI tools are flooding the internet with faster, cheaper, formulaic content. And newer platforms promise writers instant reach.
Pratilipi must prove to its creators that depth still matters - and that it's the best long-term home for their work.
The risk? Losing top talent to more "growth-hacking" platforms with better incentives.IP Management at Scale
Turning stories into books, shows, and audio IP sounds great - until you realize the operational complexity.
Copyrights, royalties, translations, adaptations, distribution - it’s a legal and logistical maze.The challenge? Scaling the IP flywheel without slowing it down or burning bridges with creators.
Platform Fatigue in Tier 2/3 Markets
The same audiences Pratilipi once served exclusively are now being courted by YouTube Shorts, ShareChat, Moj, and OTT giants dubbing into regional languages.
Attention is fragmenting - and Pratilipi has to fight for mindshare while preserving its depth-first DNA.
The fear? Becoming a niche player while others win the engagement war.Profitability vs. Patience
While they’ve hit cash-flow positivity, maintaining it while scaling globally, investing in new formats, and managing a growing creator economy will be tricky.
They’ve shown discipline - but can they scale without slipping back into the burn zone?
The tightrope? Growing fast enough for investors, without losing the soul of the product.
In Short:
Pratilipi doesn’t suffer from competition.
It suffers from complexity - of audience behavior, of content economics, of scaling culture.
But that’s what makes the bet bold.
Because if they get it right, they won’t just be a storytelling platform.
They’ll be India’s first true IP empire - rooted in Bharat, and read by the world.
Funding & Financials: Slow Burn, Smart Capital
In the world of blitzscaled content startups, most platforms either flame out fast or sell out early. Pratilipi did neither.
Instead, it played the long game - growing slowly, listening deeply, and choosing patient capital over flashy headlines. It didn’t chase vanity metrics. It chased viability.
And after nearly a decade of burn, in July 2024 - it flipped.
Here’s what that journey looked like:
Total Funding (as of April 2025): $108M+
Top investors:
Krafton (makers of PUBG)
Tencent
Nexus Venture Partners
Omidyar Network
Jungle Ventures (led the most recent round)
Latest round:
$20M Series E, April 2025
Purpose: fuel IP licensing, expand in the U.S., and invest in vertical storytelling formats
Revenue Growth
FY23: ₹34.9 Cr
FY24: ₹57.8 Cr
↳ YoY growth: 66%
Losses
FY23: ₹152.6 Cr
FY24: ₹58.1 Cr
↳ Loss reduced by 62%
Profitability Milestone
In July 2024, after ten years of patient building, Pratilipi turned cash-flow positive.
That’s a rarity in the content economy - especially for a platform that doesn't chase virality or ad spam. They proved that deep engagement, when scaled carefully, can pay the bills.
The Road Ahead: What’s Next?
Going Global: Starting with the U.S., Pratilipi is eyeing Indian diaspora and translation markets for its top-performing stories.
Content Licensing at Scale: Multiple adaptations are already underway. Think Indian Wattpad → Netflix Originals, but for Bharat.
New Formats: The team is exploring vertical dramas, animation, and interactive fiction - to match the TikTok-ified attention economy.
Revenue Targets
FY25: ₹110 Cr
FY26: ₹180 Cr
They’re not chasing unicorn valuations. They’re building a sustainable, culturally-rooted creative economy.
Final Word
Pratilipi isn’t loud. It isn’t viral.
It doesn’t chase trends, and it doesn’t scream for attention.
Instead, it listens. It lingers.
It’s built like a banyan tree - slow to grow, impossible to uproot.
In a digital world obsessed with what’s next, Pratilipi became what endures.
It didn’t just create a platform.
It created a home - for voices long ignored, in languages long overlooked.
So if you still believe regional content can’t scale,
maybe you haven’t been paying attention.
Or maybe - just maybe -
you’ve been reading in the wrong language all along.
What Founders Can Learn from Pratilipi
In building a platform for unheard voices, Pratilipi also rewrote the playbook for content startups. It proved that scale doesn’t need noise, creators don’t need gatekeepers, and stories - told in your mother tongue - can become business moats.
Here’s what every founder, builder, and storyteller can learn from their journey:
1. Bharat > Buzz
Pratilipi didn’t chase viral spikes or dopamine loops.
It quietly served millions who don’t trend - but stay.
2. Empower Creators, Don’t Extract from Them
Platforms that enable creators build trust. Platforms that use them burn out.
Pratilipi made writers the heroes — not just the supply chain.
3. Storytelling is Infrastructure
Stories aren’t side projects — they’re assets.
When you own the narrative and the medium, you build culture, not just content.
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