3one4 Capital has realised significant gains from a partial exit in Kuku FM following the startup’s $85 million Series C round
The VC firm has supported the audio platform from seed stage and has continued to back its growth across funding cycles
This marks its third successful exit this year, reinforcing a strong record of portfolio performance
Kuku FM Delivers 90% IRR for 3one4 Capital in Partial Exit
3one4 Capital has clocked another strong liquidity event by partially exiting Kuku FM shortly after the audio platform raised fresh capital in its Series C round. The move has yielded standout returns for the fund, which has backed the company since its earliest stages and continued supporting it through multiple rounds as the startup scaled revenue and narrowed losses
Kuku FM Delivers 90% IRR for 3one4 Capital in Partial Exit
Summary
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VC firm 3one4 Capital has made a partial exit from audio OTT soonicorn ‘Kuku FM’ about a month after the start-up wrapped up its $85 million Series C funding round, according to Inc42 reports. The exit delivered an IRR (internal rate of return) of nearly 90% and a 38.4x multiple on invested capital (MOIC).
The transaction also yielded strong distributions to paid-in-capital (DPI) outcome for the Bengaluru-based firm. 3one4 Capital was among the earliest backers of Kuku FM, which started investing in 2019 during the seed round. Other early investors include India Quotient and Shunwei Capital.
Since then, the Pranav Pai-led fund has consistently increased its investment in the audio OTT platform over its Series A and Series B funding rounds. In October, the start-up closed its Series C round at $85 million, securing investments from Tribe Capital India, Vertex Growth Fund, International Finance Corporation, Paramark, Granite Asia, and others.
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So inception, Kuku FM has raised over $156 million funds over seven funding rounds. And on the financial front, its operating revenue for the financial year 2024 doubled to Rs 88 crore (year-on-year), and net loss declined 18% to Rs 96 crore (yoy). The platform is yet to disclose its financials for the fiscal year 2025.
“Kuku exemplifies the qualities we seek in every investment: pre-consensus insight (seeing value in regional language audio before it was obvious), executional excellence (delivering consistent growth and innovation against all odds), and long-term category leadership (shaping the future of digital entertainment in India),” it said, as quoted by Inc42.
This is the VC firm’s third exit in 2025. Earlier, it secured 5–7x returns from its full exit in ToneTag in June, and booked an impressive 58x from its complete divestment of HR tech unicorn Darwinbox.
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Founded in 2016, 3one4 Capital has invested in more than 100 start-ups through four funds, managing a combined corpus of $570 million. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Licious, Jupiter, and Kapiva, among others.
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