Bengaluru based gaming studio, Studio Sirah, announced that the firm have raised $2.6 million with help from existing investor Lumikai and early-stage venture capital firm Kalaari Capital.
By June 2023, the business intends to use the money raised to publish Kurukshetra Ascension, its flagship game, across the globe. The studio raising this amount shows the growing interest of firms in games based on Indian culture.
Leftover funding is planned to be added to the company’s second title, which is yet to be named and claimed to be even bigger in terms of ambition and scope.
Co-founder of Studio Sirah, Abhaas Shah, said, “Over the last year, we have worked hard to build a mid-core gaming studio from scratch and launched a game that has both cultural resonance and global quality. It is evident that there is a huge (and growing) market for uniquely Indian content,” according to Money Control.
“We are deeply grateful to Kalaari for joining us on this journey, and to Lumikai, for believing in our vision from the very beginning. Over the coming decades, we hope to not only entertain Indian gamers but to take a slice of India to the world at large,” Sirah further added.
Founding General Partner of Lumikai, Justin Shriram Keeling, said, “We’re immensely proud of Abhaas and Prateek for building such a high-quality mid-core game studio over the last year. Kurukshetra Ascension has been lighting up the community and is widely anticipated ahead of its full release next quarter.”
The company had earlier raised $830,000 in September 2021 in its seed round led by Lumikai and other big investors. The game is currently in the early access phase and is based on India’s two great epics – the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
Recent months have also seen an increased push towards adding Indian culture and mythology to video games and building AAA-quality games in India. Last year in December, the AVGC Task Force recommended the establishment of a National AVGC-XR Mission with a budget outlay for the purpose of integrating the promotion and expansion of the AVGC industry.
The main aim is to promote Indian culture & heritage globally through games among youth. The plan also includes training individuals in the AVGC sector and making it easy for businesses.