Startup Deep Dive : Curly Tales — bootstrapped to millions, then a state contract drew scrutiny

Curly Tales reaches millions on YouTube — roughly 4.64 million subscribers by December 2025 — yet it raised no external capital to get there, sitting on just ₹1 lakh of paid-up share capital and, per Tracxn, carrying an “unfunded” tag. That is the first contradiction of this brand: an outfit that calls itself India’s No.1 food and travel platform was built almost entirely on operating cash, not venture money.

The second contradiction is sharper. In FY25 the company reported net profit growth of about 67% and revenue landing in a ₹25-50 crore band, on paper a clean bootstrapped success. Then, in December 2025, its single most ambitious production — a ₹6.09 crore government documentary series for DD National — became the subject of an investigation into how public money financed content that ended up on private channels. Both facts are true at once, and both are traced below to sources opened this September 2026.

Quick facts

What Curly Tales does

Curly Tales is a digital media brand that makes food, travel and lifestyle content for an Indian and diaspora audience, distributed mainly on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and on its website curlytales.com. It sells attention: brands, hotels, restaurants, airlines and tourism boards pay for content that reaches its audience, and celebrities appear on its shows to promote films, products and destinations. It positions itself as “India’s No.1 food and travel platform” and operates from offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Dubai, with a dedicated Curly Tales Middle East vertical for the UAE market.

The origin

Curly Tales is the second act of a business journalist. Kamiya Jani spent roughly a decade in television news before starting the brand — a freelance stint at The Times of India, about two years at CNBC TV18 as a correspondent and sub-editor, a spell at Bloomberg UTV, and an anchor role covering markets at ET Now. She met her future husband and business partner, Samar Verma, during those newsroom years.

The founding insight was simple and personal: the same appetite for food, travel and indulgence that news anchoring left no room for could itself be a media product. Jani has framed it in her own words — “I don’t believe in taking adventures alone and that’s why I set up Curly Tales.” She launched it in late 2016 as a blog, incorporated the legal entity Curly Tales Digital Media Private Limited on 15 November 2016, and moved into video in 2017 as Facebook and Instagram video took off. The bet was that first-person, host-led travel and food content — a recognisable face, not a faceless brand — would travel further than a conventional listings site.

The struggle years

Curly Tales did not raise money to buy growth, so its early constraint was the oldest one in media: build an audience before the audience pays. The company leaned on a partnership no funded competitor had — Fork Media Group, the content-marketing and ad-tech firm run by Samar Verma, which already sold to publishers, advertisers and influencers. Curly Tales became both a media property and a client of that machine, which is how a bootstrapped brand afforded production, distribution and sales without a venture cheque.

That dependence on one family-run engine is also the seed of its later governance problem. The other structural strain is inherent to creator media: the brand is inseparable from one person. Kamiya Jani is the on-camera host, the editor-in-chief and, per the RoC record, a director alongside her husband — so the company’s fortunes and its founder’s personal reputation move together, for better and worse.

The turning point

The event that most tested Curly Tales was not a fundraise or a viral hit — it was a government contract, and it cuts both ways. In March 2024, DD National, the flagship channel of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, premiered “India in Motion,” a documentary series anchored by Kamiya Jani on the government’s work in roads, railways and aviation. It put a private creator at the centre of state broadcasting.

The numbers on each side:

• The contract: a ₹6.09 crore (~$0.63 million at $1 ≈ ₹96.0) work order for “India in Motion,” awarded to Softline Studio Services Limited through a formal process (Newslaundry, The News Minute, December 2025).
• The execution: the work was actually carried out by entities linked to Fork Media Group — headed by Jani’s husband Samar Verma — despite contractual rules against reassignment, per both outlets.
• The republication: within hours of the DD National telecast, the episodes appeared on private channels, most prominently Curly Tales’ YouTube (about 4.64 million subscribers) and Mashable India, raising copyright and third-party-usage questions.
• The paperwork: the completion-of-work letter, the agreement and the indemnity bond were reportedly all signed on the same day, 17 May 2024 — months after the videos had already gone live (Newslaundry, December 2025).

So the turning point is double-edged: the deal proved Curly Tales had arrived — a creator brand trusted with national broadcast — while exposing exactly how entangled the media property, its sister ad firm and its founding couple are.

The money behind it

There is, in the conventional sense, no “money behind it.” Curly Tales has taken no disclosed external funding.

• Funding raised: none disclosed. Tracxn lists the company as “unfunded,” with no venture or PE round on record (Tracxn, 2026).
• Share capital: ₹1 lakh authorised and ₹1 lakh paid-up — a shell-thin equity base consistent with a bootstrapped, cash-funded business (Tofler, RoC data).
• Ownership: closely held by Kamiya Jani (Kamiya Verma) and Samar Om Parkash Verma, the two named directors (RoC via Tofler).
• The real backer: the Fork Media Group ecosystem, which supplied sales, ad-tech and distribution capability in place of investor capital.

The absence of a valuation here is a finding, not a gap: unlike the funded creator-commerce and edtech names in this series, Curly Tales has no priced round and therefore no external mark to point to.

How it makes money

Curly Tales runs a media-and-services model, not a product one. Money in comes from selling its audience and its production capability; costs out are talent, travel, shoots and distribution. The disclosed and reported revenue lines:

• Branded content and integrations: sponsored videos and features for hotels, restaurants, airlines, apps and tourism boards — reported partners include Airbnb, Taj Hotels, Zomato and Swiggy (5paisa profile).
• Celebrity and originals programming: shows such as “Sunday Brunch,” where actors including Kangana Ranaut, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anupam Kher, Rohit Saraf and Prajakta Koli appear over a meal — film and brand promotion built into the format.
• Platform monetisation: YouTube ad revenue and views across a library reported at more than 2.3 billion cumulative views.
• Influencer-marketing and agency work: executed through the Fork Media relationship, where Curly Tales is both a property and a channel for advertiser campaigns.
• Commissioned productions: larger project work, of which the ₹6.09 crore DD National series is the clearest documented example.

The part people get wrong: Curly Tales is not primarily a YouTube ad business. Platform ad payouts on food-and-travel content are thin; the margin sits in branded content and agency-style deals, where a single integration can dwarf months of ad revenue — which is also why the brand-safety and disclosure risks below matter so much.

The numbers

Curly Tales is a small private company that files abridged accounts, so the public record is bands and growth rates rather than a clean multi-year rupee series. Everything below is disclosed as filed; nothing has been reconstructed.

The shape is unambiguous even without absolutes: FY25 was a strong year, with profit and EBITDA both growing faster than the top line — the signature of an operationally geared media business scaling without new capital. The last annual general meeting on record was held on 30 September 2025, and the entity was active as of September 2026 (Tofler).

Where the money comes from

Curly Tales does not publish an audited segment split, so the mix here is drawn from its own operations and reporting rather than filed accounts, and is labelled as such:

• By geography: a core India business plus a distinct Curly Tales Middle East vertical serving the UAE, with a Dubai office alongside Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Middle East originals feature regional-draw names such as Suniel Shetty and Atif Aslam (company site, 2026).
• By format: short-form social video and reels for reach; longer YouTube originals (celebrity brunches, city and travel guides) for depth and premium sponsorship.
• By platform reach (as reported, 2025-2026): YouTube around 4.32-4.64 million subscribers and 2.3 billion-plus cumulative views; Instagram and Facebook audiences reported in the low millions each. Figures vary by source and date and are self-/tracker-reported, not audited.
• The surprise: the largest single documented revenue event was not a brand deal at all but a government commission — the ₹6.09 crore DD National series — showing how much a creator brand’s economics can hinge on one big project rather than steady ad flow.

The risks

• Governance and related-party entanglement. The most concrete risk is already realised. In December 2025, Newslaundry and The News Minute reported that the ₹6.09 crore DD National contract was awarded to Softline Studio Services Limited but executed by Fork Media Group entities linked to founder Kamiya Jani’s husband, that content was republished on private channels including Curly Tales in apparent breach of copyright and usage norms, and that key paperwork was signed on 17 May 2024 — after the videos aired. The mechanism of harm: reputational damage and scrutiny that attaches directly to the founder-anchor, whose face is the brand.
• Key-person concentration. Curly Tales is Kamiya Jani. She is the host, editor-in-chief and a director; audience trust, sponsor relationships and editorial direction all route through one person. Illness, controversy or departure would hit the brand in a way a team-fronted media house would absorb more easily.
• Platform and algorithm dependence. Reach and a large share of monetisable attention sit on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook — third-party platforms that can change ranking, ad rates or policy overnight. The business owns its audience relationship only indirectly.
• Disclosure and regulatory risk. As a branded-content business, Curly Tales is exposed to India’s tightening influencer-advertising rules on paid-partnership labelling; lapses invite regulatory and trust penalties, an exposure the DD National episode makes vivid.

The takeaway

Curly Tales is a lesson in how far operating cash and a recognisable face can go without a single venture rupee — and in the bill that structure eventually presents. Bootstrapping bought Jani control and, per the filings, a fast-growing, profitable FY25. But the same tight, family-run setup that made the company nimble is what turned a marquee government contract into a governance question. The transferable point is not “avoid public money” or “raise funding”; it is that in a founder-fronted media business, the founder’s name is the balance sheet’s largest intangible asset, and the controls around big, related-party deals have to be as serious as the audience is large.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns Curly Tales and what is the legal entity?

The brand is operated by Curly Tales Digital Media Private Limited (CIN U74999MH2016PTC287650), incorporated on 15 November 2016 and registered in Mumbai. It is closely held by founder Kamiya Jani (Kamiya Verma) and Samar Om Parkash Verma, the two named directors (RoC data via Tofler).

Has Curly Tales raised any funding?

No external round has been disclosed. Tracxn lists the company as “unfunded,” and its paid-up capital is just ₹1 lakh, consistent with a bootstrapped business funded from operations rather than investors.

How much money does Curly Tales make?

Its FY25 revenue falls in a ₹25-50 crore band per Tofler’s RoC-based profile (Tracxn shows a ₹10-50 crore band with roughly 62% one-year growth). Net profit and EBITDA were reported up about 67-69% year on year in FY25. As a small private company it files abridged accounts, so exact absolute figures are not public in the sources opened.

What was the DD National “India in Motion” controversy?

In March 2024, DD National aired a series anchored by Kamiya Jani on government infrastructure work, backed by a ₹6.09 crore contract awarded to Softline Studio Services Limited. In December 2025, Newslaundry and The News Minute reported the work was executed by Fork Media entities linked to Jani’s husband despite reassignment rules, that content was republished on private channels including Curly Tales, and that key paperwork was signed months after the videos aired.

Who is Kamiya Jani?

She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Curly Tales and a former business-news journalist and anchor who worked at outlets including CNBC TV18, Bloomberg UTV and ET Now before launching the brand in late 2016. She is also a co-founder and director of Fork Media Group.

Sources

Figures are as of September 2026. Currency converted at $1 ≈ ₹96.0 as of 18 September 2026 (Trading Economics).

• Tofler — Curly Tales Digital Media Private Limited company profile and RoC financials (accessed September 2026)
• Tracxn — Curly Tales / Curly Tales Digital Media Private Limited company and legal-entity profiles (2026)
• Newslaundry — “Prasar Bharati’s curliest tale: How taxpayer money was used for influencer content” (December 2025)
• The News Minute — “Inside Prasar Bharati: How taxpayer money was used for influencer content” (December 2025)
• 5paisa Finschool — “Kamiya Jani: The Curlytales Success Story” (accessed September 2026)
• Metastory — Kamiya Jani / Curly Tales entrepreneurship profile (accessed September 2026)
• Curly Tales — company website, Middle East vertical and originals (curlytales.com, accessed September 2026)

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