ReelSaga, a next-gen mobile entertainment startup founded in 2024 by serial entrepreneurs Shubh Bansal, Shanu Vivek, and Ritesh Pandey, has raised $2.1 million in a Seed round led by Picus Capital. The round also saw participation from ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Nazara Technologies, 8i Ventures, Waveform Ventures, Warmup Ventures, Bombay54, Bharat Founders Fund, and several prominent angel investors. The ReelSaga app is now live.

The capital will fuel app development and high-quality, localized content production, as ReelSaga sets out to define a new category of mobile-native entertainment across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East , markets collectively expected to exceed $10 billion in digital entertainment by 2025.

“Vertical short dramas are a cultural revolution. More and more users are turning to short-form video for entertainment. It’s quick, emotionally resonant, and binge-worthy , drama doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long to move you,” said Shubh Bansal, Co-founder and CEO of ReelSaga.

“We’re using data science and product innovations to push the boundaries of short-form video, delivering hyper-personalized, mobile-first storytelling that resonates deeply with our audience.” Shanu Vivek, Co-founder & Head of Product and Data, ReelSaga.

All three founders were previously co-founders at Truebil, a used car marketplace, acquired by Spinny. With deep experience in consumer tech, creative storytelling, and scaling digital platforms, the team is now taking aim at the next billion-dollar category: mobile-first fiction.

“We’re excited to back ReelSaga as they pioneer an entirely new category of storytelling in India,” said Abhijay Thacker, Senior Vice President at Picus Capital. “The team brings a rare combination of hustle, clarity, and creative ambition. Microdramas are not just a passing trend , they’re poised to become the default format for an entire generation of mobile viewers. We believe ReelSaga can lead that shift.”

“ReelSaga is building where the market is going, mobile-first, story-rich, and culturally rooted. The format is fresh, the vision is bold, and the team knows how to execute. We see them defining a whole new category for Indian entertainment,” added Mohit Gulati, Managing Partner at ITI Growth.

Microdramas are not just a passing trend. In China alone, over 5,000 series are produced annually, generating revenues that have now surpassed the country’s traditional box office industry. ReelSaga is bringing this global phenomenon to India with high-quality, hyper-localized storytelling told across 50–100 episode arcs.