ETtechMumbai: Online real-money gaming platform Zupee has raised $72 million from Mumbai-based Nepean Capital as part of a larger funding round, the company said on Wednesday.
With the fresh fund infusion, Zupee has closed its latest funding round totalling $102 million, valuing the company at $600 million. Some of its existing investors include Orios Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India.
Founded in 2018 by Malhi and Siddhant Saurabh, Zupee’s offerings include Zupee Gold, Ludo Supreme Gold and Ludo Ninja Gold games for both Apple’s iOS mobile operating system and Google’s Android. Users also have an option to play games on the web browser.
However, Google's Play Store policies for India don't allow real money gaming apps, which include unicorns Dream11 and Mobile Premier League.
“We are optimistic that this is going to change very soon. Google has just now made changes in their policy in other countries, and they have started allowing pay-to-play apps and we are very optimistic that will happen in India very soon,” said Malhi, who added that as part of industry body All India Gaming Federation, the company has been pressing for a change in the policy.
The company said it has registered more than 70 million downloads in India and the newly raised capital will help it grow its reach significantly.
The gaming platform will use the funds for developing new products, enhancing design experiences, expanding into new geographies, and ramping up marketing, reach, research and innovation, and hiring top talent. It also has plans to experiment in the web3 space with nonfungible tokens and play-to-earn games.
“It's like a lot of people are chasing the bubble NFT … we believe in building something long term and sustainable. So, I think, it's still relatively early in that space and we are doing our homework,” Malhi said.
In a separate, prepared statement, he said: “Jio is the perfect partner for this journey as we look to penetrate the remotest areas of India all the way to the most disadvantaged people to bring them into the fold.”
In August, the startup raised $30 million from Silicon Valley-based WestCap Group and Tomales Bay Capital. The three-year-old company has mopped up $121 million till now.
The online gaming industry has been under heightened scrutiny in several states including Karnataka, where the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 came into effect on October 5, banning online “games of chance”. Last month, the Ministry of Education issued a slew of advisories in which it said “playing online games leads to a serious gaming addiction which has been considered as a gaming disorder”.
IndiaTech, an industry association for technology startups, had urged the government to frame guidelines for the online gaming sector based on age and genre-based classifications, ET reported in December.
With the fresh fund infusion, Zupee has closed its latest funding round totalling $102 million, valuing the company at $600 million. Some of its existing investors include Orios Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India.
The company also announced a partnership with Reliance Jio Platforms, under which Zupee will distribute its content to users of Jio phones. Zupee is seeking to capture the non-metro market with Reliance’s low-priced 4G and 5G handsets. The partnership is on a revenue-sharing basis, cofounder Dilsher Singh Malhi told ET.
Founded in 2018 by Malhi and Siddhant Saurabh, Zupee’s offerings include Zupee Gold, Ludo Supreme Gold and Ludo Ninja Gold games for both Apple’s iOS mobile operating system and Google’s Android. Users also have an option to play games on the web browser.
However, Google's Play Store policies for India don't allow real money gaming apps, which include unicorns Dream11 and Mobile Premier League.
“We are optimistic that this is going to change very soon. Google has just now made changes in their policy in other countries, and they have started allowing pay-to-play apps and we are very optimistic that will happen in India very soon,” said Malhi, who added that as part of industry body All India Gaming Federation, the company has been pressing for a change in the policy.
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The company said it has registered more than 70 million downloads in India and the newly raised capital will help it grow its reach significantly.
The gaming platform will use the funds for developing new products, enhancing design experiences, expanding into new geographies, and ramping up marketing, reach, research and innovation, and hiring top talent. It also has plans to experiment in the web3 space with nonfungible tokens and play-to-earn games.
“It's like a lot of people are chasing the bubble NFT … we believe in building something long term and sustainable. So, I think, it's still relatively early in that space and we are doing our homework,” Malhi said.
In a separate, prepared statement, he said: “Jio is the perfect partner for this journey as we look to penetrate the remotest areas of India all the way to the most disadvantaged people to bring them into the fold.”
In August, the startup raised $30 million from Silicon Valley-based WestCap Group and Tomales Bay Capital. The three-year-old company has mopped up $121 million till now.
The online gaming industry has been under heightened scrutiny in several states including Karnataka, where the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 came into effect on October 5, banning online “games of chance”. Last month, the Ministry of Education issued a slew of advisories in which it said “playing online games leads to a serious gaming addiction which has been considered as a gaming disorder”.
IndiaTech, an industry association for technology startups, had urged the government to frame guidelines for the online gaming sector based on age and genre-based classifications, ET reported in December.
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