Zupee acquires Australian AI startup Nucanon to expand into interactive storytelling

New Delhi: Zupee, the Indian social gaming and entertainment platform, has acquired Nucanon, an Australian company specialising in AI-driven interactive storytelling. The acquisition represents a cross-border partnership between India and Australia in the digital entertainment sector, focused on advancing AI-led storytelling.

The acquisition will strengthen Zupee’s expansion into interactive storytelling by integrating Nucanon’s proprietary AI engine, which enables branching narratives, evolving characters, and immersive, user-driven story worlds. The move also reinforces India’s growing presence as a global hub for AI-led storytelling and entertainment technology.

At the centre of Nucanon’s technology is a world-building AI system designed to transform how stories are created and experienced. The engine allows storylines to evolve naturally in response to user choices, with dialogues that feel spontaneous and characters that retain memory of past interactions. The result is an adaptive storytelling environment where narratives unfold uniquely for every user, across text, voice, or visual experiences.

Dilsher Singh Malhi, Founder and CEO of Zupee, said, “At Zupee, we have always liked to push the boundaries on innovation. We're very excited about partnering with Nucanon and building the future of how humans will experience stories. For decades, we've been trapped between two worlds: the emotional depth of cinema and the agency of games. With Nucanon we want to crack something fundamental, which is not just generating content but understanding narrative causality."

He added, "We believe the Pixar of the next century won’t emerge through traditional film or animation, but rather through interactive mix of Videos and Games. And we're going to build it from India for the world.”

Nilushanan Kulasingham, CEO of Nucanon, said, “The holy grail of interactive entertainment is true player agency within a compelling story. This is the challenge that has stumped the industry for decades, and it's the one we were founded to solve. Our goal is to build an AI that doesn't just generate text, it understands the story. With Zupee's backing, we now have the resources to take on this challenge at scale.”

Following the acquisition, Nucanon’s founding team will lead product innovation from Zupee’s India headquarters.