Giga Fun Studios announced yesterday that the startup casual gaming company have raised $2.4 million in seed funding. The company will use the funding to develop casual games of the highest calibre for Indian and international customers.
Leading the round were the consumer experts Fireside Ventures and Lumikai, India’s first gaming and interactive media-focused venture capital fund. In this round, All In Capital, Kettleborough VC, and Riverwalk Holdings also participated.
The founders of the company include Krishnendu Mukherjee (former head of game design at MPL), Rahul Daga (former director of products at Zynga) and Rahul Shekhar (former engineering lead at m56 Studios).
According to the founders of the company, who have built successful casual games for both India and the rest of the world at renowned studios like Zynga and m56, will spend extensively in developing a top-notch team to serve as a hub for the “best in India” casual game developers.
The developers will create games that are accessible around the globe, have straightforward but engaging game loops, are designed with a focused user interface and user experience for domestic gamers, have affordable prices, and are distributed through third-party app stores.
The long-term objective is creating the King of India by using casual metal to disseminate the diversity of Indian culture over the world.
Mukherjee said, “We have been brainstorming the idea of creating a gaming studio that caters to the Indian audience and the core problem we mutually identified was that while current dominant casual games (such as Candy Crush) are very high in quality, they haven’t been able to fully unlock an Indian player base due to a lack of cultural resonance.”
“This is additionally visible in the lack of monetization participation of the Indian player. With over five billion downloads, India is one of the largest download markets for casual games. Our belief is that with the right themes and geo-specific mechanics, we will be able to crack adoption and monetization for casual games in India,” he further added.
Founding general partner at Lumikai, Justin Shriram Keeling, said, “According to our recently released India State of Gaming 2022 report, 80% of gamers show a high proclivity to play games based on Indian intellectual property.”
In an email to GamesBeat, Mukherjee said that the present economic climate has made it difficult to raise funding, particularly for a business at an early stage.
Mukherjee said, “The company had to be more detailed and meticulous about our value proposition to the players and our understanding of the Indian player base. We had some very productive discussions with Lumikai Ventures, and found alignment in our vision for the market.”
Shriram Keeling said, “Despite the overall bear cycle we’re seeing in late-stage investments and the public markets, the competition for experienced, ambitious founders in early-stage gaming is still fierce. We’re honored that Krish and the team chose to partner with Lumikai as they embark on tapping into this exciting white space.”
