Indian Label Giant Saregama Fully Acquires Pocket Aces After Buying Majority Stake in 2023

Photo Credit: Klim Musalimov

Indian label giant Saregama has fully acquired Pocket Aces after spending $20 million in 2023 to acquire 51.82% of the company. It paid around $24.9 million for the last half of the company. Here’s the latest.Saregama invested in Pocket Aces in September 2023, stating it had plans to invest an additional $1.8 million into the startup. The company said at the time that it planned to expand its stake in the start up and “deferred the future pricing to completion of certain metrics,” a stock exchange filing reads. Now it appears as though Saregama is happy with those metrics—as the company is fully acquiring Pocket Aces.

Pocket Aces produces short-form video content aimed at young Indians, creating over 30 new items each day. The app has seen its popularity surge over the last year, as videos typically have comedic value and feature real-world issues that resonate with viewers. Pocket Aces manages over 100 people in its digital talent stable. Pocket Aces reaches around 50 million viewers weekly and has accumulated more than 700 million viewers monthly.

Saregama India will pay Rs 209 crore ($24.9 million) for the remaining 48.2% stake that it does not currently own. In its annual report, Saregama says it will leverage Pocket Aces Pictures reach to further popularize its music library of over 150,000 songs among the 18-35 audience segment. It will also utilize PAP to create synergies across the artist, influence management, and long-form video creation businesses of the two companies.“Not only does this [acquisition] bolster our ability to offer bespoke end-to-end services to brands, but also helps us market our own music more effectively,” Saregama says in its annual report. “We can see a change coming in content consumption with a marketed preference for short-form over long-form, Pocket Aces is the secret sauce that will help us transition to this newer form of content.”