Mythik is a tech-first entertainment startup turning Eastern mythology, history, and folktales into global digital franchises. The latest Mythik funding update is an additional $5 million, adding fresh momentum to a company trying to package culturally rooted stories for modern, mobile-first audiences. Founded in April 2025 by Jason Kothari, Mythik is betting that Eastern stories have huge global appeal but still lack a scaled, digital-first entertainment company built around them.
What is Mythik and how does it work?
Right now, Mythik looks less like a finished streaming platform and more like an IP engine in public. Its website already showcases mythology-led video storytelling, with titles such as Ram vs Rava, Shakuni’s story, Buddha’s first sermon, Women of Ramayana, and Bhishm’s Vow, distributed through its own site alongside YouTube and Instagram. That matters. It shows Mythik is already testing story packaging and character hooks. Audience response is part of that too.
The broader pitch is bigger than those early clips. Mythik wants to use technology across the business to bring Eastern mythology, history, and folktales to a worldwide audience and build what it openly calls a “Disney from the East.” That suggests a model built around creating original IP, then extending it across multiple formats over time. Short-form comes first. Larger franchises come later.
For a user, the experience today is simple. You arrive, watch bite-size mythology content, and get a modern retelling of familiar stories without the commitment of a full TV series or a dense book. Mythik is trying to remove the old studio formula: long development cycles and format silos. It’s also pushing back on the idea that culturally specific stories can only travel through film or television.
Who is behind Mythik funding and what has Jason Kothari built before?
The founding story
Mythik launched in April 2025 as a new entertainment-tech venture rooted in India, with a Dubai headquarters and a Mumbai office. From day 1, the company’s pitch has been consistent: take Eastern mythology, history, and folktales — stories with a built-in audience of 3.5 billion people — and rebuild them for a global audience using modern technology and distribution.
Why Kothari fits this category
Jason Kothari isn’t a first-time founder trying entertainment on a whim. While studying at Wharton, he acquired bankrupt comic-book publisher Valiant Entertainment, became CEO at 24, led its turnaround, and later sold it to DMG Entertainment in a deal valued at $100 million. He also served as executive producer on Bloodshot, the Sony Pictures film based on a Valiant character. That background matters here. Mythik is basically an IP-and-distribution bet, and Kothari has already built around characters and licensing. Story-world expansion is familiar territory.
His India operating record is different, but still relevant. Kothari later became CEO of Housing.com, moved into leadership roles at Snapdeal and FreeCharge, and worked on turnarounds rather than easy growth stories. Housing’s revenue grew 4x while expenses dropped 70% during his time there, and FreeCharge was later sold to Axis Bank. So Mythik isn’t being led by a pure creative founder. It’s being led by someone who’s spent years fixing businesses, raising money, and understanding scale.
Early signals around Mythik
The company’s bench is unusually heavyweight for something this young. Mythik says its founding team includes former senior leaders from Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Jio, and Tencent. It also built a global advisory board that includes Alok Sama of SoftBank, Crunchyroll co-founder Kun Gao, former Disney strategy executive Nick Van Dyk, former Marvel COO Bill Jemas, former Amazon Studios production head John Lynch, and former Marvel and Dapper Labs technology executive Gui Karyo. For an early-stage company, that’s not normal. It tells you Mythik wants to build a full-stack entertainment company, not just a content app.
How Mythik funding was structured
This new round adds $5 million at a valuation of more than $50 million. New investors include Harsh Jain of Dream11, Rajat Gupta, Zubin Bharti Mittal, Ishan Sinha of Point72, Blume Founder’s Fund, and Rooshabh Shah. Existing investors who also participated include Sakal Media Group led by Abhijit Pawar, Jason Kothari, Anirudh Patni, Samarth Parekh, and Samir Vora. The company had already raised $15 million in seed funding in May 2025, a round that included investors such as Sakal Media Group, BITKRAFT Ventures, VC Grid, Visceral Capital, and Shah Rukh Khan’s family office.
Kothari said: “We are pleased to welcome a new group of exceptional investors who bring global perspective, networks and strategic value, as well as deepen our partnership with existing investors. This continued support reinforces our vision to build a category-defining tech-first global entertainment company, rooted in the rich storytelling of Eastern mythology, folktales and history.”
How Mythik compares with other digital storytelling bets
Mythik doesn’t sit neatly beside a single rival. The closest newer comparison set is digital-native story companies such as Toonsutra in webtoons, Pocket Entertainment’s Pocket Toons in AI-powered comics, Kuku in AI-led audio and storytelling, and Dashverse, which spans mobile comics, AI tools, and micro-drama apps. But Mythik’s positioning is broader than any one format. It’s not pitching itself as just comics or just audio. It isn’t just short drama either. It’s pitching itself as an IP company built from Eastern stories outward.
That’s also where the risk is. Broad ambition sounds great in seed decks. Execution is harder. Legacy alternatives — TV mythological serials, children’s comics, film studios, and publisher-owned character universes — may be old-school, but they already own audience habit. Mythik’s edge has to be speed and format flexibility. It also needs globally legible storytelling, not nostalgia alone.
What does Mythik funding change for the company?
This round matters because Mythik is still early enough that capital changes the shape of the company, not just the pace. The earlier seed round was about launch credibility. This $5 million extension looks more like a vote to keep building out original content and production capability. Creative and technical hiring are part of that too.
And the investor mix is telling. Dream11’s Harsh Jain brings mass consumer internet instincts. Ishan Sinha adds a public-markets and private-investing lens from Point72. Blume’s Founder’s Fund brings venture pattern recognition. Existing backers such as Sakal Media Group keep the media relationship angle alive. So this isn’t just money. It’s a cap table built around audience and distribution. Strategic judgment and access come with it too.
For customers — or really, future viewers and fans — the practical takeaway is simple: Mythik now has more room to test whether Eastern mythology can be turned into durable IP instead of one-off viral content. That’s the whole bet. If the company can move from short digital storytelling into repeatable franchises, the upside is big. If it can’t, it risks becoming another stylish mythology brand without staying power.
How big is the market behind Mythik funding?
The macro setup is real. India’s media and entertainment sector grew 9% year over year to ₹2.78 lakh crore, or $32.1 billion, in 2025, and IBEF says it could reach ₹3.3 lakh crore, or $37.9 billion, by 2028. Digital media has already crossed ₹1 lakh crore in revenue, and digital ads alone contributed ₹94,700 crore in 2025. That’s the kind of market where a new content company can be born digital instead of treating digital as a side channel.
The language tailwind is just as important. IAMAI’s ICUBE 2024 data shows 870 million internet users accessed the internet in Indic languages in 2024, and 57% of users in urban India said they prefer internet content in Indic languages. Video is the top activity in that cohort. If you’re building mythology-led entertainment with multilingual potential, those numbers aren’t background noise. They’re the demand signal.
The format side is moving too. India’s animation market was valued at $2.4 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $14.69 billion by 2030, while PwC expects the global entertainment and media industry to hit $3.5 trillion by 2029. PwC also flags India as one of the faster-growing E&M markets, helped by internet advertising growth, 5G expansion, and short-form video behavior. That doesn’t guarantee Mythik wins.
Mythik funding is interesting because it’s not just another startup round attached to a vague AI story. It’s a specific wager that Eastern stories can travel globally if they’re rebuilt for modern formats, faster production loops, and digital-native distribution. The next thing to watch is whether Mythik stays in the short-form testing phase or starts revealing the larger franchises this cap table is funding.
Read how Piper Serica launched Bharat Tech Fund with an ₹800 crore target to back Indian deeptech startups building in AI, semiconductors, space, defence technology, and biosciences with larger Series A and B cheques.
FAQ about Mythik funding
– What is the latest Mythik funding round?
Mythik has raised an additional $5 million at a valuation of more than $50 million. The round was announced on May 20, 2026, and came after the company’s $15 million seed financing in May 2025.
– How does Mythik work today?
Today, Mythik works as an early-stage digital storytelling and IP platform built around Eastern mythology, history, and folktales. Its public-facing product already includes short mythology-led video content on its website and social channels. That suggests the company is testing characters and formats before expanding into bigger franchise plays.
– Who founded Mythik and what is Jason Kothari known for?
Jason Kothari founded Mythik in April 2025. He’s best known for acquiring and reviving Valiant Entertainment while at Wharton, later selling it for $100 million, and for taking senior operating roles at Housing.com, Snapdeal, and FreeCharge.
– What market category is Mythik actually in?
Mythik sits at the intersection of media tech and digital storytelling. It’s also an IP-led entertainment company. It overlaps with webtoon, mobile comics, micro-drama, and mythology-content startups, but its stated ambition is broader: to build globally scalable entertainment franchises from Eastern stories rather than operate as a single-format app.
