Audio series platform Pocket FM has let go of 100 employees across content, tech and product roles, accounting for around 10% of its workforce, two people aware of the developments told ET.
These layoffs were based on an evaluation where some employees did not meet the skill criteria for the roles, a person said. "Most of the layoffs were in the content team, while many contractual employees have also been moved to Quess Corp's payroll," the person added.
Responding to ET's queries, Pocket FM denied undertaking "company-wide layoffs," but said, "Like any high-performance organisation
undo operating at scale, we continuously evaluate performance across teams, and in some cases, this may lead to role-specific transitions," it said in a statement.
Under the changes made to its contract workforce, Pocket FM has partnered with hiring platform Quess Corp to move about 2,000 contractual employees, including designers and content writers servicing its US business, to the latter's payroll. Typically staffing companies like Quess Corp, charge a fee, which is around 3-4% and is billed monthly. This is primarily done to consolidate costs and streamline balance sheets.
On this, Pocket FM said that it works with multiple external partners across business functions as part of standard operational and workforce management practices. "As an entertainment company operating at scale across markets, such partnerships help us drive operational efficiency and remain focused on our core business priorities," it added.
Entrackr was the first to report the development.
This comes a month after the company announced it reached $450 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in April, driven by its AI-native storytelling system. The platform operates in more than 20 countries.
Pocket FM last raised $103 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2024 at a $750–800 million valuation. In FY25, its revenue stood at Rs 1,768 crore, up 68% year-on-year, ET reported in April 2025. More than half of its revenue comes from user payments through microtransactions, with the rest from advertising.
Pocket FM competes with Spotify and other new-age content platforms such as Krafton-backed Kuku FM and Pratilipi. Kuku FM raised $85 million led by Granite Asia in October 2025, valuing it at $550 million, while Pratilipi raised $20 million led by Jungle Ventures in April last year.
These layoffs were based on an evaluation where some employees did not meet the skill criteria for the roles, a person said. "Most of the layoffs were in the content team, while many contractual employees have also been moved to Quess Corp's payroll," the person added.
Responding to ET's queries, Pocket FM denied undertaking "company-wide layoffs," but said, "Like any high-performance organisation
undo operating at scale, we continuously evaluate performance across teams, and in some cases, this may lead to role-specific transitions," it said in a statement.
Under the changes made to its contract workforce, Pocket FM has partnered with hiring platform Quess Corp to move about 2,000 contractual employees, including designers and content writers servicing its US business, to the latter's payroll. Typically staffing companies like Quess Corp, charge a fee, which is around 3-4% and is billed monthly. This is primarily done to consolidate costs and streamline balance sheets.
On this, Pocket FM said that it works with multiple external partners across business functions as part of standard operational and workforce management practices. "As an entertainment company operating at scale across markets, such partnerships help us drive operational efficiency and remain focused on our core business priorities," it added.
Entrackr was the first to report the development.
This comes a month after the company announced it reached $450 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in April, driven by its AI-native storytelling system. The platform operates in more than 20 countries.
Pocket FM last raised $103 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2024 at a $750–800 million valuation. In FY25, its revenue stood at Rs 1,768 crore, up 68% year-on-year, ET reported in April 2025. More than half of its revenue comes from user payments through microtransactions, with the rest from advertising.
Pocket FM competes with Spotify and other new-age content platforms such as Krafton-backed Kuku FM and Pratilipi. Kuku FM raised $85 million led by Granite Asia in October 2025, valuing it at $550 million, while Pratilipi raised $20 million led by Jungle Ventures in April last year.
