Pocket FM has named Abhilash Padival as its Chief Financial Officer, bringing in a finance leader with investment banking and startup advisory experience at a time when the audio series platform is sharpening its focus on global scale, capital planning and future public-market readiness.
Padival takes over from Anurag Sharma, who stepped down after a five-year stint as CFO. His appointment comes as the Bengaluru-based company is looking to strengthen its financial organisation while expanding its international business.
In his new role, Padival will oversee Pocket FM’s global finance function, including financial strategy, capital allocation, business planning, investor relations, compliance and corporate governance.
Before joining Pocket FM, Padival spent more than seven years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently led the Consumer Internet Investment Banking practice. During that period, he worked on the IPOs of companies including Zomato, Swiggy, Nykaa and Delhivery. He has also led strategic mergers and acquisitions and advised startups on private capital raises.
Padival brings nearly two decades of experience across finance, corporate strategy and business transformation. His previous roles include stints at Quess Corp, Altisource, Avendus Capital and Cyient.
Pocket FM CEO Rohan Nayak said the company is entering a stage where a stronger finance organisation is becoming central to its growth plans.
“As we enter our next phase of growth, strengthening our financial organisation and preparing the business for long-term global scale becomes increasingly important,” Nayak said.
He added that Padival brings “a rare combination of investment banking expertise, strategic thinking and operating experience” that will help Pocket FM as it invests in innovation, expands globally and builds value for creators, customers and stakeholders.
Padival described Pocket FM as a company “creating an entirely new category at the intersection of storytelling and artificial intelligence.”
“Its global ambition, relentless pace of innovation, and creator-first ecosystem make this an incredibly exciting time to join,” he said.
Founded by Rohan Nayak, Prateek Dixit and Nishanth KS, Pocket FM was last valued at $750 million after raising $103 million in March 2024. The company has raised $196.5 million to date and counts The StepStone Group, Lightspeed, Tanglin Venture Partners and South Korea’s Naver among its investors.
The platform offers more than 100,000 audio series across genres such as romance, drama, thriller, fantasy and science fiction. It says its creator network includes more than 300,000 writers globally. Pocket FM also claims to have over 250 million listeners, with users spending more than 125 minutes a day on average.
In April, Nayak said Pocket FM had crossed $400 million in annualised revenue run rate, doubling over the previous 12 months. He credited AI-led content creation as a key driver, saying the company took six years to reach its first $200 million and just 12 months to add the next $200 million.
The CFO appointment also comes at a time when India’s audio entertainment and microdrama spaces are seeing sharper competition. Pocket FM recently shut down Pocket TV, its beta microdrama product, after testing the format. Nayak said the challenge was not getting users to try the product, but getting them to return.
With Padival’s appointment, Pocket FM appears to be putting financial discipline, governance and investor readiness closer to the centre of its next growth chapter.
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