Publishing platform Pratilipi seeks mainstream partnerships
NEW DELHI : Online self-publishing and audiobook portal Pratilipi, which has diversified from text to audio and now comics, has found a bunch of mainstream partners to churn out different versions of its successful stories. From Disney+ Hotstar and Audible, the online audiobook service owned by Amazon, to music label and film production house T-Series, the company believes in keeping intellectual property (IP) at the centre of its strategies and leverages its literature to bring out podcasts, comics and, now, web series.
Launched in 2014 as a self-funded platform, Pratilipi had raised ₹30 lakh from TLabs (Times Internet Accelerator) in March 2015 and another $1 million from investors led by Nexus Venture Partners in 2016. In 2020, it launched two more storytelling platforms, Pratilipi Comics and Pratilipi FM, to expand into newer formats such as audio and graphics, and acquired podcast network IVM Podcasts the same year.
It publishes content in 12 languages, of which English, Hindi and Gujarati are the most common. “Stories were, are and will always be powerful.
Languages and formats may change, but compelling stories will always travel across geographies and forms. That is why our aim was always to be a home for multilingual, multi-format storytelling," Ranjeet Pratap Singh, chief executive officer and co-founder, Pratilipi told Mint.
Singh added that the company that started as a platform for users to publish stories, essays and poetry, has enough data to see which stories work across audience groups. The catalogue comprises over 13.5 million literary works, and the most popular titles include Pranayam, Anokhi Shadi, and Anni vaipulaa nannu allukundi nee kala. This September, media and entertainment company Disney Star
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