Crunchyroll made an announcement on its Indian Instagram account, stating that Indian actress Rashmika Mandanna has joined their team. However, no specific details about the collaboration have been disclosed yet. On another note, Crunchyroll also revealed a promotional partnership with Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff last Friday.
In an effort to expand its presence in India, Crunchyroll will be hosting its “first-ever special screening in India” on July 20 at 5:30 p.m. IST at Maison PVR, Jio World Drive Mumbai. Registrations for the event are currently open, and seats for the screening will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
On November 2, Crunchyroll introduced subscription tiers for Indian audiences and announced its initial lineup of Hindi and Indian English dubs. As part of their expansion strategy, the company began streaming several anime titles in India on March 1, 2022. On the same day, Funimation and Crunchyroll shared the news that Funimation and Wakanim’s anime library and simulcast content had migrated to Crunchyroll. Following these developments, Rahul Purini, formerly the COO of Funimation, was appointed as Crunchyroll’s CEO in April 2022.
In August 2021, Sony’s Funimation Global Group successfully acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T for a purchase price of US$1.175 billion. The transaction was completed in cash at closing.
The acquisition of Crunchyroll by Funimation was initially announced in December 2020, with the same purchase price of US$1.175 billion. Prior to this, in August 2020, AT&T reportedly offered Crunchyroll to Sony for US$1.5 billion, but Sony hesitated at the price, which effectively valued the streaming service at US$500 per subscriber. During that time, AT&T was actively seeking other potential buyers for the company. In October of the same year, Sony entered final negotiations for the acquisition, as reported by Nikkei Asia. The newspaper also mentioned that Sony’s expenditure for the Crunchyroll acquisition could exceed 100 billion yen ($957 million).
Source: Crunchyroll’s Indian Instagram account
