CineNow Secures Majority Backing for $150M Fund, Targets $720M in Film-IP Monetisation

CineNow Limited, a film-tech investment vehicle, has secured majority backing, over 60% for its $150 million fund from a mix of family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals reflecting early institutional confidence in a category historically financed through fragmented, relationship-driven capital rather than structured investments. The model is designed to transform Indian cinema intellectual property into a formally investable, rights-backed and tokenisation-ready alternative asset for global capital.

Building on this momentum, the vehicle is targeting up to $720 million in slate monetisation and more than $1 billion in long-term film-IP value, structured through its $150 million fund with built-in capital recycling and cost efficiencies. CineNow is coordinating its next phase with UAE positioned as its headquarters for operations, investor relations and portfolio administration.

The model behind the numbers

Rather than treating individual films as isolated bets, CineNow’s model aggregates a diversified slate of Hindi and regional-language cinema, with returns structured around a broader rights and licensing lifecycle, theatrical, digital, satellite, music, dubbing and franchise rather than dependence on box-office performance alone. The rights-backed, tokenisation-ready structure is designed to build in early-exit optionality and greater asset visibility, aiming to give institutional investors a more measurable, risk-adjusted way to access the category.

India’s film industry offers the scale to support this model: sector revenues reached approximately $2.1 billion in 2025 across more than 1,900 releases, with domestic box office at a record $1.4 billion. Regional-language cinema comprising Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada accounted for 44% of that box office, while 216 million paid video subscriptions across 143 million households point to continued growth in digital, satellite and franchise revenue streams alongside theatrical release.

“Film intellectual property is one of the world’s most valuable yet undercapitalised asset classes,” said Rohit Dalmia, Chairman and Managing Director of CineNow. “Our vision is to institutionalise it by bringing together governance, technology and global capital within a transparent investment framework. Our ambition is to position the UAE as the global gateway for rights-backed entertainment investments, connecting international capital with one of the world’s fastest-growing creative economies while laying the foundation for the future tokenisation of real-world intellectual property assets.”

Why the UAE

CineNow’s decision to establish the UAE as its regional operating headquarters reflects the country’s position at the intersection of global capital, technology and the creative economy. The UAE offers a sophisticated legal and commercial environment for intellectual-property ownership, cross-border investment and emerging tokenisation models, supported by deep pools of institutional, family-office and private capital. Its connectivity between Western financial markets and Asian content industries makes it a natural economic and cultural corridor for CineNow.

The relationship is designed to create reciprocal value for the UAE. CineNow intends to register and administer film intellectual property through the UAE, execute regional contracting and capital flows locally, and require participating producers to establish UAE-based entities, contributing to long-term economic substance, professional-services activity and employment. The vehicle also plans to host more than 30 film premieres, industry events and talent-led engagements in the country, strengthening the UAE’s positioning as a destination for entertainment, tourism and global media visibility. Selected productions may also be encouraged to film in the UAE, where suitable locations, production infrastructure and rebate programmes can further support local expenditure and international exposure.

Through this model, the UAE becomes more than an administrative base. It becomes the legal, financial, technological and commercial gateway connecting international investment with Indian and subsequently, Arabic cinematic intellectual property.

What comes next

With about 60% committed towards its $150 million current target, CineNow is now focused on building awareness among the wider global investor community as it works towards closing the remaining capital. The company says its priority at this stage is establishing the category positioning film IP as a credible, structured alternative asset in the UAE.

Building on the framework developed for film IP, the company plans to extend the same model to arabic content, aviation and real estate in the coming months, creating a diversified suite of tokenized investment opportunities governed by the same compliance and liquidity standards. The goal is to connect global capital with high-growth markets through structured, technology-driven investment vehicles with Indian cinema as the proof of concept.