By October of this year, Dream11 parent company Dream Sports’ sports media startup FanCode plans to close its online sports retail store, FanCode Shop. According to a statement from FanCode, the startup chose to close its sports merchandise division in June and reallocate funds to its main content business.
Reason Behind the Exit from Sports Merchandise
A representative for FanCode stated that this will assist the company in concentrating on its areas of greatest growth and user value. All orders placed during that time will be fulfilled by FanCode Shop, which will remain open until October. ET was the first to report on the development.
Challenges in India’s Sports Retail Market
According to a report by ET, the merchandise industry is facing ongoing challenges with profitability and the unregulated spread of fake goods, both of which have very little room for expansion.
FanCode Shop as a Revenue Stream
The goal of FanCode Shop was to give FanCode, which provides live sports streaming, analysis, and commentary, another source of income. It was established in 2020 and, through alliances with IPL teams, the NBA, international cricket organisations, and top football clubs worldwide, provides official sportswear, fan gear, and memorabilia.
Closure of Real Money Gaming Operations
This comes shortly after Dream Sports closed its actual gaming operations after the Parliament passed the “Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025”. According to Dream11 CEO Harsh Jain, the startup’s 95% revenue vanished overnight as a result of the real money gaming ban.
Shift to FanCode, Dream Money, DreamCricket, and DreamSetGo
The startup will now concentrate on FanCode, the recently launched investment tech product Dream Money, the online game DreamCricket, and the sports hospitality brand DreamSetGo rather than contesting the bill in court.
AI and Future Growth Strategy
Additionally, Dream11 intends to reallocate its resources to AI-powered advancements in fan interactions, merchandise, sports content, and commerce.
To increase its runway, the business will also reduce its investment in partnerships, marketing, and advertising. It also withdrew as the Indian cricket team’s primary sponsor as part of this. Nearly all Indian startups, including Zupee, Paytm, Games24x7, and others, have ceased their real money gambling businesses since the bill’s passage.
Withdrawing as Indian Cricket Team Sponsor
The company has also discontinued its jersey sponsorship of the Indian cricket team and is now concentrating on the development of businesses in sports AI, streaming, and creator-led audience engagement. FanCode is anticipated to play a significant role in this endeavour.
FanCode has expanded as a digital sports destination since its 2019 inception, providing live match streaming, highlights, statistics, and tools for fantasy research. In addition to basketball, racing, and football properties, it has acquired the rights to a number of domestic and international cricket series.
According to IMARC Group, the licensed sports products industry in India was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2033.
Quick
Shots
•Company shifting focus to core sports
content business and higher-growth areas.
•Launched in 2020, partnered with IPL
teams, NBA, cricket boards & football clubs to sell official fan gear.
•Struggled with profitability issues
and fake goods market hurting licensed merchandise growth.
•Follows Dream Sports’ closure of real
money gaming operations after Online Gaming Bill, 2025.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.
The Indian online gaming industry is flourishing with a wide variety of games that are letting young and old indulge in them. Among all other outdoor games including cricket, football, kabaddi, and basketball, India is also witnessing a rise in the popularity of several indoor games like ludo, pool, carrom, free fire, and more, which are also letting the gamers of India rewarded with real cash prizes among a list of other rewards.
The large youth population and the rapid penetration of the internet have made the country really witness a gaming revolution that includes fantasy sports and social gaming platforms over the past decade or so. To name one of the most popular gaming hubs in India is to talk about WinZO. The New Delhi-based social gaming platform is well-known for offering monetary benefits and prizes to players from around the country.
Founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018, WinZO has been ingeniously developed as a vernacular gaming platform to tap into the Indian audiences hailing from Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities.
WinZO offers an array of popular games from PubG to cricket, rummy, and more, which make up an enviable collection of 100+ games that reward users online. Read about WinZO Games, Founders and Team, Business model, Revenue Model, Growth, Funding and Investors, Name, Tagline, Logo, Awards, Challenges, Future Plans, and more.
WinZO is a microtransactions-powered vernacular entertainment platform, which has 100+ games served in 5 formats to users in 10+ regional languages. The diverse game offerings include hyper-casual games such as Candy Crush, Metro Surfer, Carrom, Chess, Ludo, and Pool to Mid-core flagship esports IPs like Free Fire.
WinZO is a member of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and FICCI. It is also known as the proud sponsor of Patna Pirates, Gujarat Giants, and Bengal Warriors.
WinZO is built with the idea of emerging as the ‘Netflix of Gaming’- one platform with games to play with your friends. To boost the gaming infrastructure in the country, WinZO partners with individual, mid-size, and large global studios to bring a variety of games to its users on a single platform.
The social gaming startup also helps the developers improve their revenue by providing them with an alternative and a far more efficient model of monetization led by microtransactions rather than conventional in-app purchases and advertisements. The partner developers of WinZO have clocked 100 more revenues from their games on WinZO in India as compared to their distribution channels such as Google Play Store, Apple Store, etc.
In the short term, WinZO aspires to be the preferred platform of choice for both its stakeholders- gamers in Bharat (Tier 2 – Tier 5) and game developers. The company is always innovating and bringing products and features to empower its users and game developers.
Also, their decentralized language management portal has empowered housewives and college-going students by helping them earn up to Rs 30,000 per month, thereby letting them become financially independent. Here, they only needed to help localize their product and add languages, remotely from their homes. For game developers, WinZO has come up with the Developers’ consoles to facilitate their outreach to the company and become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured revenue streams of up to 100x.
In the long term, WinZO envisions serving as a one-stop platform for all mobile-first entertainment media in India and other developing markets driven by the power of communities and microtransactions.
The company is empowering all its stakeholders on multiple fronts. The primary problem that WinZO started to solve was the efficient monetization of games in developing economies where in-app purchases and advertisements do not work. Through their microtransaction model, where 200 million+ microtransactions are clocked per month, their partner studios have witnessed growth up to 100X in their revenues. Hence, the model definitely has proved to be effective.
WinZO Products/Services
WinZO is an off-Play Store app, which hosts 70+ casual to mid-core games in 5 formats and 10 Indian regional languages. The games range from rummy, pool, carrom, ludo, call break, bingo, chess, 29 card games, archery game, bubble shooter, and more.
Users here get the thrill of competition and instant gratification. It also ensures the personalization of content to serve users with relevant games based on their engagement patterns on the platform. The company is developing a community of gamers who can engage and compete with each other via features such as WinZO Versus.
To make outreach easier for the developers, they have also launched WinZO Developer Console where any developer can sign up and submit content for integration on the app. The console has garnered massive traction, with over 1,000 games being submitted from across the globe. It also provides real-time analytics related to the game for efficient monitoring of the performance and ensuring transparency. WinZO also offers WinZO store, which brings gaming coupons, Gaana coupons, Nykaa coupons, and more.
WinZO is in the Indian online gaming industry, which was projected to reach a market size of $60 billion by 2034 in a 2025 report by WinZO and IEIC. WinZO targets a user base of over 250 million registered users in India, with a focus on the “Tier 2-Tier 5” audience in smaller towns and rural areas, alongside its recent expansion into the US and other international markets. The company relied mainly on the Tier 2 cities and beyond to achieve the estimated growth.
This is because when the company scrutinized the market, they were surprised to discover that around 80% of active gamers in India are from non-metro locations. Yes, it was found out that somewhere between 40% and 60% of the overall gamer population of India are from Tier II towns and beyond. All of this helped WinZO scale fast and grow large enough to be one of the most popular gaming companies of today. The company targets the small cities of India, where the gamers’ ages range between 18 and 35 years.
WinZO – Founders and team
WinZO was co-founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore.
Co-founders of WinZO
Paavan Nanda
Paavan is an engineer from NSIT, who later went to IIM-Calcutta and to the Copenhagen Business School. He worked with Bain & Company, Abbott Labs, and Merrill Lynch before co-founding Zostel Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., which emerged with ZO Rooms, an affordable and technology-driven hostel chain. However, ZO Rooms, after a failed merger with OYO, shut down, but it failed to put a halt to the rising entrepreneurial instinct of Nanda, who then co-founded WinZO with Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018.
Saumya Singh Rathore
Saumya is the co-founder of the vernacular social gaming platform, WinZO. She has a Master’s in Psychology from The University of Manchester and eventually obtained a degree in Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. Saumya had already worked with Paavan Nanda in Zo Rooms before the duo decided to found WinZO.
WinZO, currently, is a tight-knit team of around 40 young, enthusiastic, passionate, and talented people who believe in the company’s vision and hustle together to work on the most advanced cutting-edge technologies and provide the best value to the users. When the team closed its Series A and had 5 Million+ users, it was only a 9-member team.
The work culture at WinZO is as vibrant, customer-focused, and fun as it might be imagined in a gaming venture. The team works hard at exemplary execution speed to push great new exciting features for the users and each small achievement is appreciated and celebrated. Weekly office parties and milestone celebrations also bring extra motivation and energy to the team.
“We at WinZO believe that hiring right is more effective than hiring fast – peer interviews is how you get on with the mission. It is always a great support to have a team which is self-motivated, target driven, accountable and committed to the vision. Hence, we hire the best talent with the right value alignment with the company’s core values.”, said Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO.
Most of our relatively new colleagues have joined us through the recommendations from their friends already working with us as they wanted to be a part of our journey to build the Netflix of Gaming and solve some of the most challenging tech problems of the country – Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder of WinZO.
WinZO – Startup Story | How was WinZO Started?
WinZO was conceptualized after studying the revolution that affordable smartphones and Reliance Jio had created in India in 2015-16, by providing users from even the remotest corners of the country, with powerful devices and affordable high-speed internet connections. Thanks to this revolution, India became the global leader in in-game downloads.
However, there was clearly a problem of efficient monetization for games in high-potential developing markets that needed to be solved. This marked the journey of WinZO. To validate the concept, WinZO was launched as a subscription-based trivia app to monitor the user acceptance of the model.
Based on the encouraging results of this POC, they launched a micro-transaction powered vernacular hyper-casual gaming platform where users pay small sums of INR 2 – INR 25 to participate in real-time multiplayer games and win prizes from the pool of rewards set aside for them. This model had the elements of regional language, real-time competition, and affordability in consuming content yet paying for it. Together, these made WinZO an instant hit among the users of vernacular Bharat.
WinZO focuses on competitive multiplayer gaming experiences and is charged with the mission to create a culturally relevant mobile games platform with a broad rate of adoption.
WinZO aims to lead the Indian online gaming ecosystem with an expansive influencer network that is capable of catering to 50+ million registered users of the platform.
WinZO – USP and Innovation
WinZO’s USP has always been its innovative and inclusive approachto solving real-life problems. While the intuitive approach for any gaming company would be to tap the easier metro and tier-1 audience first, WinZO saw and successfully tapped the potential of the real Bharat (Tier 2-Tier 5 towns, rural India) through its deep-down distribution strategy.
To facilitate this, they offer the support of 10+ regional Indian languages on the app. Their vision is to democratize entrepreneurship: They have decentralized language management through their portal to engage women who work from home to get a truly vernacular experience for players in Bharat.
For game developers, WinZO has helped them become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured and sustainable revenue streams. As many developers aren’t aware of the intricacies of this complex market, their 80% paying active user base ensures that the games are generating revenue from day 1 at no user acquisition expenses for the developers.
The team took ‘ZO’ from their previous venture ZO Rooms/Zostel. ZO stands for speed & energy – so it’s winning fast! Plus, when they Googled the word, they didn’t find anything, so that solved the SEO hassles with no money spent!
WinZO Logo
WinZO – Business Model and Revenue Model
As per App Annie 2018 Gaming Report, India stood highest in terms of Game downloads – at the same time in the bottom 10 for in-app purchases. The problem that WinZO is addressing is fairly simple: Bharat is in love with Gaming, but the Quality Studios/Independent developers do not see much potential in Bharat.
The WinZO Business Model is simple – Build the Gaming Ecosystem in Bharat.It aims to do that in three ways:
Provide a one-stop Game Developer Console to the Gaming Studios – where it can publish the games and earn revenues out of it.
Charge platform commission fees from all the games and share the revenue with the Game Developers via its Console.
Offer employment opportunities to students and housewives across Bharat to provide content for quizzes via its indigenous portal.
The most challenging part that WinZO faced was generating the feeling of trust in the minds of the users, who were seated in the remote areas of Bharat.
“What has worked well for us is – the entire product was on beta for at least six months and we were on stealth mode. We generated lots of insights around how to build trust and the product is designed for the users of Bharat who are from tier 2/3/4 towns. We also decided to be vernacular and be transparent to our users so that it’s easy for them to build trust on the platform.”, said Paavan Nanda.
As a result, they are now available in around 12 Regional Languages and nearly 90% of their audience is from the tier 2/3/4 towns of Bharat.
A significant other challenge is profitability, which the company is yet to gain, as reported last in FY20.
WinZO Copyright Infringement
WinZO has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against gaming giant Mobile Premier League (MPL) because it thinks that the latter has copied its gaming format “World War”. World War is a game launched by WinZO in April 2020, which currently boasts around 80 million registered users. As far as reports, WinZO has already applied for a patent for the invention and copyright registration with regards to the expression of the format and trademark of World War.
It all started when WinZO discovered that MPL has allegedly copied the format and the name of the game. However, it took down the format from its platform as soon as it was informed of the same but the latter again started with “Team Clash”, which allegedly used the same format that was identical to “World War”. Besides, the notifications/popups and more that were sent to the users were also similar. Following the discovery of this new game, WinZO has already sent a legal notice to MPL, who doesn’t want to take down the format this time, as of June 4th 2022 reports.
The company raised its seed money, an undisclosed amount from K-Start. WinZO has also set up a fund of $1.5 Million to support Game Developers in India. On July 2, 2021, WinZO announced raising an amount of $65 million on a Series C funding round led by California-based Griffin Gaming Partners. The company has raised a total of $110.5 million in its fundraising to date.
Here is the list of WinZO funding rounds:
Date
Stage
Amount
Investor
July 2, 2021
Series C
$65 million
Griffin Gaming Partners
May 3, 2021
Series B
$13 Million
–
April 9, 2021
Debt Financing
$9.5 Million
–
September 3, 2020
Series B
$18 Million
Courtside Ventures, Makers Fund
April 17, 2020
Seed Round
–
–
February 22, 2019
Series A
$5 Million
Hike, Kalaari Capital
WinZO – Acquisitions
WinZO acquired Upskillz Games in its maiden acquisition on June 21, 2022. The deal was an all-cash deal with which a majority stake in Upskillz was acquired by WinZO. Mannit Sidhu founded Upskillz Games in December 2020, which already boasts of having a month-on-month (MoM) growth rate of 75% since it started. Besides, it also had a captive user base of 1.3 mn users, along with blockchain and Web3 offerings, all of which will be added by WinZO now.
Company Name
Date
Deal Value
Upskillz Games
June 21, 2022
–
WinZO – Advertisements and Campaigns
MS Dhoni – Brand Ambassador of WinZO
In 2022, WinZO brought on MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador. Since then, the legendary cricketer has appeared in several of the brand’s ads. According to the company, having MS Dhoni as the face of the brand will boost awareness and engagement within India’s social gaming community, helping to establish social and interactive gaming. Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO, said, “With MS Dhoni, we aim to bring social gaming to people across all ages and genders in this country.”
WinZO has partnered with popular YouTuber Ajey Nagar, commonly referred to as CarryMinati, to serve as its brand ambassador on January 19, 2022. After CarryMinati, WinZO trumps by choosing “BB ki vines” feat, Filmfare recipient digital sensation Bhuvan Bam as its brand ambassador, as the company PR goes dated February 15, 2022. The Vernacular Online Gaming Giant announced that this collaboration with BB will help the company create culturally relevant content that would be relatable even for the persons belonging to the remoter sections of the country.
The Indian content creator from Faridabad, who boasts of having over 34 million subscribers will now be coming up with interesting game-related content that will unique, engaging, and relatable on his streaming channel ‘Carryislive’. Furthermore, he also signed up for another solo integration on his major YouTube channel ‘CarryMinati‘ as part of this relationship. Here’s what WinZO Co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore remarked on this development,
“We are thrilled to have him on board. We collectively hope to further our vision of promoting the spirit of winning and culturally relevant content across Bharat.”
The New Delhi-based interactive social gaming company declared that it will be the official sports brand partner of the Ranveer Singh film ’83’ in December 2021.
India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform has partnered with the Ogilvy Chairman of Global Creative and Executive Chairman Piyush Pandey to launch its multilingual brand campaign to deliver ‘winning moments’ through a relatable social platform in December 2021.
The campaign that was launched with the tagline and hashtag “Jeetne mein Kick hai” by Leo Burnett Orchard has won a creative mandate for the same, as per reports dated December 2020.
WinZO – Advisors and Mentors
Kalaari is not only an investor but a great partner who is guiding the company all along the way as they are building this for Bharat. It is very important to note that WinZO is Kalaari’s second-largest bet in gaming, second only to Dream11. The team gets to learn a lot from how Harsh managed to build a profitable venture in the Indian Startup ecosystem.
WinZO is fortunate to have had Revant Bhate & Rahul Garg come in very early to push them to build this product with a sharp focus on unit economics. A fund like Kalaari has vast exposure to what works and what doesn’t in the long term. This early understanding would help them to build sustainably.
“We also have received a huge support from Kavin Bharti Mittal who has also backed the venture. Kavin is one of the finest product experts and his insights are always critical in building WinZO as the entertainment destination for Bharat. He has tremendous experience in building and distributing Hike – a home grown tech unicorn.”, said Pavaan Nanda.
WinZO – Recognition and Achievements
WinZO received the following awards and recognitions in the past couple of years since they started their journey:
Digital entertainment platform WinZO has announced its official launch in the US, expanding its international footprint.
“The launch of WinZO in the US is a proud milestone for us and for India’s digital entertainment ecosystem. Our vision has always been to empower Indian game developers to reach global audiences. Entering the US, the world’s largest and most influential gaming market, is a decisive step towards that mission,” said Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda, cofounders of WinZO.
The company also announced the launch of ZO TV, a short-video platform. “This further diversifies our content offerings and strengthens WinZO’s position as a global hub and one-stop destination for interactive entertainment,” Rathore added. WinZO’s expansion into the US is a critical part of its strategy to become the global go-to consumer technology platform for all new-age content consumption, the company said. After diversifying its formats and monetisation strategies, WinZO is now leapfrogging into geographical expansion.
FAQs
What is WinZO?
WinZO can be described as one of India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform that was launched in 2018. WinZO offers its platform to third-party game developers who can host their games and earn up to 100X in revenue.
Is WinZO a Chinese app?
No, WinZO App is an Indian App headquartered in New Delhi, India.
What is WinZO launch date?
WinZO was launched in 2018.
Is WinZO App legal?
Yes, WinZO was founded in 2018 and is a 100% legal and genuine gaming platform that operates in most of the states in India. It is in fact counted to be one of India’s best gaming apps in the social category.
Who is the owner of WinZO?
Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore are the Founders of WinZO.
Who is the CEO of WinZO?
Paavan Nanda is the Co-founder and CEO of WinZO.
How does WinZO make money?
WinZO makes money through in-app purchases, advertising, and partnerships with game developers and brands. Players spend money on virtual goods, while ads and brand collaborations generate additional revenue.
Is WinZO app safe?
Yes, the WinZO app is generally considered safe. The platform collaborates with the security community to ensure its services and data are protected. However, as with any app, it’s important to download it from trusted sources like Google Play or the App Store and follow security best practices.
Is WinZO gold real or fake?
WinZO is certified for Real Money Gaming, meaning it meets strict regulatory standards for financial transactions. This certification guarantees that all monetary activities on the platform, such as deposits and withdrawals, are secure and transparent.
Harsh Jain, Dream Sports’ co-founder and CEO of Dream11, stated that there won’t be any layoffs even though the company has switched to free-to-play games after the government outlawed online gaming that requires payment.
Harsh Jain’s Assurance: No Layoffs at Dream Sports
According to him, Dream Sports has enough cash on hand to last for years and depends on a high internal demand for talent across all of its channels. In an August 25 interview with Moneycontrol, Jain stated that the company had no intention of making any layoffs.
This place is safe for all the talent. He went on to say that the business wants to use this talent to help us get out of this predicament. Developing new items that you can sell later is the only way to cope with 95% of your money being lost. Talent will always be the first step.
Commenting on the development, Kabir Kochhar Founder & Managing Partner, Audacity Venture Capital stated, “Regulation not prohibition, was the need of the hour. This decision impacts the economy in many ways, the first of which is on the unfortunate employees, founders, investors, and service providers. Nobody is questioning the spirit of this decision. You cannot outlaw something that has entrenched consumption behavior. We know for a fact that the underground illegal economy around betting is many times the size of the regulated and burgeoning legal RMG industry. Expect this unscrupulous underbelly to thrive.”
“VC confidence is yet again shaken. Regulatory risk is something most VCs account for in their decision-making matrix. Investor expectations were around higher taxation and clarity on the distinction between games of skill and games of chance. These are the two issues on which the highest courts of the land are yet to issue a judgment. The taxation itself implied a tacit understanding and a regulation-based approach. However, VCs will survive. It is the nature of the game. Founders unfortunately will be the hardest hit, as usual,” he added further.
Pivot to Free-to-Play Fantasy Sports in India
Dream11 is now concentrating only on free-to-play online social games after suspending all paid competitions on its fantasy sports platform on August 22. India’s new gaming law, which prohibits online money games where participants deposit money in the hopes of winning rewards, served as the impetus for the decision.
How India’s Online Gaming Ban Impacts Dream11
Notably, the investigation stated that these cash-based competitions, which are currently unlawful, accounted for 95% of the company’s current income and all of its earnings. According to Harsh Jain, Dream Sports is still experiencing a high internal demand for talent across all of its current businesses, which include the fintech venture Dream Money, the mobile game development unit Dream Game Studios, the sports experiences platform DreamSetGo, and the sports content and commerce platform FanCode.
Additionally, he stated that the company plans to develop new items in the future due to the increasing demand for them. Jain went on to say that the Mumbai-based business has enough cash on hand to support its employees and operations for a number of years, which he believes is more than enough. Compared to INR 3,841 crore in FY22, Dream Sports reported operating revenue of INR 6,384.49 crore for FY23.
Future of AI in Fantasy Sports and Fan Engagement
The company plans to concentrate all of its future efforts on artificial intelligence (AI)-based sports prospects in India, with a special focus on the creator economy.
According to Jain, the business offers sports performance, analytics, fan interaction, sports content, and products. Artificial intelligence is going to change all of this.
The company may now devote its 500 engineers to resolving these issues. “To address these issues for Indian sports fans, we will begin anew,” he continued.
Quick
Shots
•Dream Sports CEO confirms no layoffs despite 95%
revenue loss.
•Dream11 suspends all paid fantasy
sports contests after India’s online gaming ban.
•Cash-based games, which made up 95%
of revenue, now prohibited.
•Jain emphasizes talent will help
build new products and future growth.
Shortly after the Indian government’s online gaming bill was approved by both Houses of Parliament, India’s leading real money gaming (RMG) companies, including Dream11 parent company Dream Sports, Gameskraft, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Zupee, and Nazara-backed PokerBaazi, started to stop holding money-related competitions and games on their platforms.
The measure forbids online money games, which are those in which players deposit money either directly or indirectly in the hopes of winning.
All ‘Pay to Play’ competitions on Dream Picks, a newly released fantasy sports app that allows users to create four-player teams and compete in both innings, have been suspended by Dream Sports. Additionally, Dream Play, the company’s casual RMG app, is being discontinued.
Dream11 Suspends Real Money Fantasy Competitions
A notification on the app states that Dream11is suspending all “pay to play” fantasy sports competitions on its platform due to the current developments surrounding “The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025”. The Dream11 app allows users to safely access and withdraw their account balance.
According various media reports, Dream Sports also intends to halt sponsored competitions on its main Dream11 app after the law is notified after the President’s approval. In FY23, the business reported a net profit of INR 188 crore on INR 6,384 crore in operational sales. Dream Sports chose not to respond.
MPL Shuts Down Money-Based Games
The Mobile Premier League (MPL), an RMG platform, announced that it has closed all of its money-related gaming options.
“While new deposits will no longer be accepted, customers will be able to withdraw their balances seamlessly,” stated a spokeswoman. “Regardless of the revenue model, our goal has always been to become the biggest competitive gaming platform globally, and we are still dedicated to giving our Indian users competitive, free-to-play, non-money-based gaming experiences. As we finish the process of shutting down online money games, we will update our community on the following steps,” the representative stated.
On its iOS and Android apps, MPL provides more than 60 games in categories such as board games, puzzles, daily fantasy sports, quizzes, and casual games.
Gameskraft Halts RummyCulture Cash Services
In a stock market announcement on August 22, Nazara Technologies said that Moonshine Technology, the parent company of the online poker platform PokerBaazi, has “ceased offering real money online gaming operations.”
“Moonshine, an affiliate firm in which Nazara owns a 46.07% share, has stopped providing real money online gambling operations out of extreme caution and in accordance with the government’s mandate. After the bill is passed, the corporation will assess its next steps,” the multifaceted gaming and sports media organisation stated.
Additionally, Gameskraft, a Bengaluru-based company, is suspending “Add Cash” and “Gameplay services” on its rummy applications, such as RummyCulture. “In compliance with platform policies, the withdrawal services are still accessible. We wish to reassure users that their money is still secure with us. In order to guarantee complete compliance with the changing legislative framework, this is a preventative action,” a business representative stated in a statement.
Quick
Shots
•India passes Online Gaming Bill 2025,
banning money-based online games.
•Dream Sports suspends ‘Pay to Play’
competitions on Dream Picks & shuts down Dream Play RMG app.
•Mobile Premier League halts all
money-gaming; users can withdraw balances but no new deposits allowed.
•Bengaluru-based Gameskraft suspends
Add Cash & gameplay services on RummyCulture; withdrawals still open.
In response to an ongoing antitrust investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into the tech giant’s alleged abuse of dominance in the real-money gaming (RMG) ecosystem, Google has recommended adjustments to its Play Store and advertising standards for a greater number of RMG apps in India.
CCI Antitrust Probe Sparked by WinZO Complaint
The Delhi-based RMG platform Winzo filed a complaint that prompted the CCI to begin its antitrust investigation in November 2024. Regarding Google’s commitment application, the CCI had requested feedback from stakeholders regarding the purported exclusion of specific RMG apps from Google Play and the selective onboarding of rummy and daily fantasy sports apps, which distorted the competitive environment.
Google’s New Policy: Replace Pilot with Self-Declared Legal Compliance
Google suggested in its application to replace the present “pilot program” by permitting the distribution of all RMGs on Google Play in India, which creators have self-declared to be legal online real-money games in accordance with relevant legislation.
In order to establish that their application is legally permissible, the application stated that developers must submit evidence that the application is in good standing with a reputable and authoritative third-party body that has demonstrated to Google’s reasonable satisfaction that it meets specific criteria and has been recognised as acceptable in Google’s policies.
Advertising Rules to Loosen for Games of Skill
Additionally, the company stated that it will amend its advertising guidelines to permit advertisements for “games of skill” in India, provided that creators provide third-party certification confirming that the games are neither gambling apps nor “games of chance.” Google restricted the Play Store hosting of apps in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) and rummy categories as part of an experimental program that began in 2022.
These two types of RMG apps are still available in the app store, even though the trial was only meant to run for a year. A WinZO representative commented on the CCI’s investigation, saying WinZO is appreciative of the CCI’s ongoing dedication to promoting an equitable, transparent, and prosperous digital economy.
WinZO’s Case Against Google: Monopoly or Market Gatekeeper?
Google suspended its plans to expand and permit the listing of new types of RMGs on the Play Store in India and globally more than a year ago, attributing the decision to the absence of a central licensing framework and the challenges associated with creating a suitable monetisation model.
In June of last year, the IT giant originally intended to introduce its extended RMG support to developers for their consumers in Brazil, Mexico, and India.
After that, WinZO filed a complaint in November, claiming that Google’s regulations unjustly hurt RMG apps and abused its dominating position in the app store and digital advertising sectors. WinZO also cited modifications to Google Ads guidelines that limit advertising to DFS and Rummy apps solely.
Why India Is Crucial for the Global RMG Ecosystem?
It contended that this limits the reach and expansion prospects of other gaming platforms by denying them access to a significant advertising channel. Nearly 20% of the world’s gamers reside in India, which also invented microtransaction-driven business models that currently generate over 85% of online gaming profits, according to the spokesperson.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence Headquarter (DGGI-HQ) has been given authority by the Indian government to direct intermediaries to disable the websites of online gaming enterprises accused of tax evasion. The government has designated the Additional/Joint Director (Intelligence) as the nodal officer for the assignment, according to a notice published in the Ministry of Finance’s gazette.
Section 14A(3) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 gives the DGGI-HQ the authority to block any “information generated, transmitted, received, or hosted in any computer resource” that an online gaming company that has not paid taxes has used. This covers businesses based outside of India.
Clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the Information Technology Act, which imposes liability on intermediaries for failing to block or remove content upon government orders, is also cited in the notification. The material Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules’ clause (d) of subrule (1), which forbids intermediaries from keeping illegal material, is also included.
The government’s intention is to thwart tax-evading foreign gambling platforms by instructing intermediaries, such as search engines and social media platforms, to halt their online operations in India, according to the gazette notification.
Sector Evaded Taxes Worth INR 81,875 Crore in FY24
Earlier this year, the DGGI declared that the largest amount of GST evasion in the fiscal year 2023–2024 was caused by the online real money gaming industry. In FY24, the sector avoided paying taxes totalling INR 81,875 crore in 78 cases. The distinction between “real money online gaming” and gambling was effectively eliminated when the government raised the GST on real money online gaming from 18% to 28% earlier in 2023.
Numerous businesses received extensive tax evasion warnings dating back to prior fiscal years when the legislation went into effect on October 1, 2023. According to reports, Delta Corp received a notice of INR 16,822 crore for the period of July 2017 to March 2022, while Dream Sports received claims ranging from INR 25,000 to INR 40,000 crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later disclosed that within six months of the raise, tax receipts from the sector had increased fivefold. From October 2023 to March 2024, collections increased 412% to INR 6,909 crore from INR 1,349 crore.
Government Under Strong Criticism
The industry protested the tax hike, which was a highly contentious move. In a letter to the government, more than 100 skill-gaming businesses claimed that it would “reverse the growth trajectory of the industry.” According to the letter, the GST will incentivise offshore gambling operators, attract Indian customers to them, and ultimately result in neither the expansion of the legal industry nor the best possible revenue collection.
As per a report published by a media house, India is actively advocating for the inclusion of online gaming companies within the framework of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) systems. To implement stringent KYC rules and the mandatory reporting of suspicious activity by these organizations, the government has initiated internal conversations and is currently investigating potential methods to address these issues.
It is anticipated that New Delhi will bring up this matter once more at the upcoming conference of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris. Officials from New Delhi are expected to bring attention to the fact that online gaming platforms such as Mahadev Apps are being used for money laundering.
An official’s statement reported in the report mentioned that India will once again submit its line of reasoning regarding the necessity of these platforms being governed by global standards.
The government’s goal, according to the report, is not to hamper the expansion of the online gambling industry but rather to safeguard it against the hazards of money laundering. Gaming platforms would be required to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) standards and report suspicious transactions, including the identification of the beneficiaries of the transactions if the FATF were to bring the industry under the AML/CFT framework.
Gambling Controversy Exposed
An unlawful betting network that was connected to the Mahadev Online Book platform was discovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the 2023. This platform featured variety of games, including online cricket and card games. Match-fixing and money laundering through bitcoin are two activities that the ED believes the platform may have been involved in.
As indicated in the report, another official voiced his concerns regarding the transfer of funds across international borders, particularly in relation to gaming applications that are based in foreign countries but cater to users in India specifically.
Tighter Gaming Regulations
Despite the fact that compliance has been limited, the government has already made it mandatory for overseas gambling enterprises to register in India. The scope of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was expanded by the government in March 2023 to include certain acts that are associated with virtual digital assets.
According to the study, there were initial concerns that online gaming platforms might be required to comply with PMLA due to their participation with cryptocurrencies. However, the obligations continue to be restricted to cryptocurrency exchanges, and gaming companies are not yet taken into consideration by the law.
The new 28% GST on online gaming has produced divided opinions about the industry’s future in India. Some experts condemn the GST hike, while others see it as boosting government revenues.
The Parliament’s new amendments in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws to levy a 28% tax on the face value of all bets made in online gaming, casinos, and horse racing destabilized the online gaming industry in the country. Further, the GST Council also agreed that there should be no distinction between a ‘game of skill and a game of chance’.
The online gaming sector, worth Rs 13,500 crore, accounted for 77% of India’s gaming sector revenue in 2022. As per the FICCI-EY report, these revenues were expected to grow to Rs 16,700 crore and Rs 23,100 crore in 2023 and 2025 respectively. Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra has predicted that the new levy would fetch an estimated additional revenue of Rs 20,000 crore to the government.
However, the new GST law to levy a 28% tax on the face value of online games curtailed the growth of the industry resulting in large-scale lay-offs and cost cuts in prominent companies operating in the sector.
GST Sentimeter | GST Council Decides On 28% Tax On Online Gaming | CNBC TV18
Government’s Motive to Impose 28% GST on Online Gaming
StartupTalky spoke with several key figures in the online gaming industry regarding the government’s decision to increase the GST on Real Money Gaming (RMG). Most experts opine that this move is an effort to increase government revenue, while others think that this also carries an underlying motive of curbing the unregulated expansion of RMG in India.
Dr. Aruna Sharma, a policy advisor and practitioner development economist by profession and the former Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India, believes that the government’s decision to increase the GST on RMG is a complex one, and there are likely multiple factors at play.
“The online gaming industry is a growing sector, and it is a potential source of revenue for the government. The government’s decision to increase the GST on both games of skill and games of chance is primarily aimed at increasing government revenue. The state governments have supported this decision, as they believe that it will generate more revenue for them. The government has been facing a fiscal deficit for some time now, and it is looking for ways to raise revenue.”
Mr. Rohit Bansal, Founder, of Super 4, said, “It’s a delicate balance between revenue generation and addressing the broader societal concerns associated with RMG, highlighting the government’s efforts to strike equilibrium in a rapidly evolving industry.”
Mitesh Gangar, Co-Founder & Director, PlayerzPot commented, “A 28% GST on the entire face value of online gaming is poised to significantly impede the growth of the online gaming industry. Previously, companies were willing to take risks and invest substantial resources in their operations, but this new taxation scheme renders such endeavors unviable. It presents a series of challenges, including constraints on cash flow, which in turn limits a company’s capacity to allocate funds towards research, innovation, expansion, and even its overall survival.”
Indian Online Gaming Sector from the Year 2019 to 2023 With Forecasted Value for the Year 2025
Impact on Online Gaming Companies
The GST hike has caused serious hindrances in the revenue and workforce of several companies including unicorns. Fantasy gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) has laid 350 employees so far, citing additional tax burdens. Other smaller players in the industry are dealing with layoffs, shutdowns, and funding challenges amidst the 28% GST on online gaming at full face value.
It also has undoubtedly imposed an increased financial burden on the companies. The additional tax has led to higher entry fees and reduced prize pools, making it more expensive for players to participate in fantasy leagues. This has ultimately resulted in a decline in player engagement and overall revenue for us as a brand.
When asked about the impact of the new tax on the company’s workforce, Bansal said, “To manage increased expenses resulting from higher GST rates, we have implemented cost-cutting measures. We have also made some operational adjustments, leading to shifts in workforce allocation, and job roles to optimize efficiency and reduce costs.”
Joy Bhattacharjya, Director General, Federation of India Fantasy Sports (FIFS) said that the decision would massively affect the $2.5 billion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) already invested and would jeopardize any further FDI in the industry.
Bhattacharjya also warned that this decision could result in users shifting towards unauthorized betting platforms, thereby posing a risk to users and causing a loss in government revenue.
Zacharias Tegefeldt, CEO and Co-founder, of TrophyRoom, while speaking about his company’s strategy to maintain a strong presence in the market and ensure positive growth, said, “Consumers will surely be pickier about where to place their funds going forward. It puts an increased emphasis on customer experience, support, etc. It also likely means that operators that do something new and different may be looked at differently. If I pay more, I want to experience more, so there’s an opportunity for companies like TrophyRoom, who focus a lot on product and gameplay innovation, to grab a larger piece of the market, by providing that extra spice to the experience. In a sense, it puts us in a rather unsuspected good position, since innovation and customer experience already make out the core pillars of our right to exist.”
However, when the 28% GST hike was announced, there were a lot of speculations about its impact on the esports industry as well. Clearing the confusion regarding whether the GST will have any sort of impact on the Esports or video gaming industry of the country, Mr. Vinod Tiwari, President, of the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) & acting Director General, of the Olympic Council of Asia states, “It is imperative to first understand that the 28% GST is going to apply to the iGaming sector, including Real Money Gaming (RMG), fantasy sports, teen patti, rummy, and poker which are categorized under gambling or betting in the rest of the world. Contrary to some media reports, this GST is neither applicable nor will it have any impact on the ‘Video Games’ or the Esports industry.”
“Esports has been officially recognized as a sport by the government which finally and thankfully distinguishes it from any activities like iGaming such as fantasy, teen patti, rummy, poker, betting, and gambling, among others. It will carry on being taxed the way it always has been. Theories of ‘game of skill’ and ‘game of chance’ which only exist in our country neither apply nor are relevant in the Esports ecosystem,” says Mr. Tiwari.
In April of this year, the government made amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 to lay out a comprehensive framework for the Online Gaming Ecosystem. According to Tiwari, instead of using the umbrella term of “online gaming”, the GST council should have ideally used the more specific term “iGaming’ which is known worldwide, or even “online real money game” which is defined in “The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules to avoid the confusion.
“We must acknowledge the TRUTH that the primary objective of the 400 million Indian video gamers (and approximately 3 billion gamers worldwide) is ‘purely entertainment’, and not financial gains or making money. It is regrettable that in India, our video games or esports industry is often unjustifiably associated with ‘iGaming, betting, RMG, gambling, and many more, which creates unnecessary confusion and misperceptions,” he adds.
Additionally, it is crucial to highlight that video game publishers have strict policies against implementing entry fees for any Esports events organized using their video games, further separating it from iGaming.
Gangar, when asked about the impact of the new GST on the willingness of aspiring entrepreneurs to enter this industry, said, “Aspiring entrepreneurs eyeing the online gaming sector will now think twice before venturing into it, primarily due to the burdensome GST. Consequently, the burgeoning gaming economy will face a substantial setback, resulting in economic strain, diminished job opportunities, and a stifled growth trajectory within the industry.”
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has targeted October 1 to roll out the tax along with an assured review of the levy six months after its implementation.
Tegefeldt said, “I hope for an amendment that addresses these quite serious issues. There needs to be a balance, which I don’t think has been achieved yet. If this needed amendment happens, I think it’s likely that the industry will see a rather quick dip, a new low, and then a resumption of growth after a while. If not, there are several different outcomes.”
On the other hand, being optimistic about growth in the industry, Bansal believes that trends like mobile gaming, localized content, and innovative gameplay are likely to drive expansion. He also shared that government regulations and consumer protection measures might become more stringent which in turn would affect the dynamics of the market. Collaboration between industry stakeholders and regulatory bodies will be pivotal for sustainable growth.
“Overall, the industry’s future will depend on its ability to adapt to changing tax structures, navigate regulatory hurdles, and meet evolving consumer preferences,” Bansal added.
However, Dr Sharma thinks that the Indian gaming industry has a huge potential to thrive, and the new regulation would foster a suitable environment for its development.
She said, “The government’s decision to increase the GST on online gaming is not intended to discourage the development of the gaming industry in India. The government believes that the Indian gaming industry has the potential to become a major hub, and it has already taken steps to regulate the industry and create a favorable environment for its growth. The increase in GST is simply a way for the government to raise revenue, and it is not expected to have a significant impact on the industry.”
Tegefeldt, anticipating the future, said, “A brighter future, from where I’m sitting, is indeed one where the hungry underdogs that actually bring something new and fresh to the table, get increased attention from the players. It would be an incredibly cool thing if the faster, leaner, and more creative underdogs can put some pressure on the larger operators and lead the way to a more fun future in gaming.”
While it is still one month away from the implementation of the Act, it is too early to predict the outlook for the online gaming industry or iGaming in India. The RMG industry in India faces a mixed outlook due to the change in tax regulations. While increased taxation may present challenges for operators, the industry is expected to continue its growth trajectory as online gaming gains popularity.
The digital revolution has fueled the gaming industry of India tremendously, transforming the nation into a bustling hub for game development and innovation. It was further pushed by the startup culture in which the Indian business world itself thrived. By 2019, the number of people who play online games in India crossed 300 million and it is increasing over the years.
It is expected that by 2025 global gaming market is expected to exceed $256.97 billion. As the internet became cheaper and widely accessible, the number of online gamers increased. A large number of gamers from tier 1 and tier 2 cities were added to it.
Driven by the exponential growth of internet users, increased smartphone penetration, and the rise of esports, the gaming landscape in India has evolved into an enchanting realm of opportunities for both players and entrepreneurs.
As the industry continues to gain momentum, a new generation of visionary startups has emerged, reshaping the gaming landscape and captivating the hearts of millions of gamers across the nation. From mobile gaming sensations to cutting-edge virtual reality experiences, these gaming startups have demonstrated their mettle in the highly competitive arena, setting new benchmarks for creativity, technology, and user engagement.
In this blog, we’ll delve into the captivating narratives of trailblazers who dared to dream big and turned their passion for gaming into thriving ventures. So buckle up, and let’s dive into the exhilarating world of the top gaming startups in India!
Established in 2008, Dream11 stands as one of top gaming startups in India, revolutionizing the gaming landscape by introducing sports enthusiasts to a thrilling world of fantasy sports. Catering to a wide array of sports, including cricket, kabaddi, football, basketball, and hockey, the platform has garnered immense popularity among fans looking to immerse themselves in their favorite games.
Dream11 achieved an extraordinary milestone in 2019 by becoming the first gaming startup to attain unicorn status. In a monumental move, Dream11 secured the coveted title sponsorship for the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in August 2020. Since its inception, this gaming giant has set unprecedented milestones, establishing itself as the pinnacle of success and influence in India’s gaming landscape.
Founded in 2000, Nazara Technologies has emerged as a leading force in India’s gaming industry, making significant strides in transforming the gaming landscape across the nation. With an unwavering commitment to innovation and a deep understanding of the Indian gaming market, Nazara has captivated the hearts of millions, redefining how players experience and engage with digital entertainment.
It is boasting diverse segments such as subscription, freemium, e-sports, and skill-based gaming. With a global reach spanning over 64 countries, the company has been on a steady trajectory of growth, continuously expanding its influence and services worldwide. Over the years, the company has successfully acquired several prominent entities like NODWIN Gaming and Sportskeeda, solidifying its position as a key player in the gaming ecosystem and broadening its offerings to cater to a vast array of gaming enthusiasts. Today, Nazara Technologies stands tall with an impressive user base of over 100 million, a testament to the immersive and engaging gaming experiences it delivers to players worldwide.
Paytm First Games, a dynamic venture by Paytm, one of India’s leading digital payment platforms, has taken the nation by storm with its captivating and rewarding gaming experience. Launched as a part of Paytm’s ecosystem, this innovative platform brings together entertainment and gaming, offering players an opportunity to indulge in a diverse array of games while earning exciting rewards.
Since its inception, Paytm First Games has emerged as a prominent player in India’s gaming industry, catering to an extensive user base with a wide variety of gaming options. From casual games to esports tournaments, the platform offers something for every gaming enthusiast, making it an all-encompassing destination for players of all ages and interests.
It caters to a wide variety of games and has over 45 million players on board. From their launch in 2018, today they have reached their zenith as e-gaming witnesses its boom in the industry.
Since its inception, Games2Win has remained at the forefront of India’s gaming revolution, captivating players worldwide with its innovative and engaging offerings. Established in 2005 by Alok Kejriwal and Mahesh Khambadkone, this dynamic gaming company has become synonymous with top-notch gaming experiences, entertaining millions across the globe. From casual and arcade-style games to simulation and sports titles, the platform caters to a broad spectrum of gaming enthusiasts, ensuring there’s something for everyone.
They offer ads and social networks for games apart from being a traditional gaming platform. They have over 15 million users every month. Their games are available across Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
Moonfrog Labs, an online gaming startup, came into being through the collective efforts of a close-knit group of friends who were once colleagues back in 2013. Their passion and perseverance fueled the creation of a card-based game called “Teen Patti Gold,” which garnered instant acclaim, amassing an impressive 20 million downloads right from its inception.
Building upon this early success, Moonfrog Labs continued to push the boundaries of gaming innovation. Introducing a game centered around the beloved Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, they marked India’s first-ever narrative adventure gaming experience.
They further expanded their creative repertoire, introducing India’s first war strategy game, inspired by the blockbuster movie “Baahubali.” This strategic masterpiece took players on a thrilling journey through epic battles and commanding armies, allowing them to relive the grandeur of the beloved film. With each new venture, Moonfrog Labs solidified its reputation as an innovative and trendsetting force within the gaming industry.
99 Games is a Udupi-based game company that was launched in 2008 by Rohit Bhat. Their first game Wordsworth became a hit with more than 1 million downloads among Apple users. From developing casual games for iOS, today they have expanded to Windows and Android.
In 2013, they came across a great opportunity to develop a game based on a Bollywood movie – Dhoom 3. The success it garnered opened numerous opportunities for 99Games. They subsequently developed 20 more such games. Two of them were based on movies like Fan and Sultan.
Octro
Website
www.octro.com
Headquarters
New Delhi
Founders
Saurabh Agarwal
Founded
2006
Octro – Top gaming startups in India
Octro has emerged as a trailblazing force in India’s gaming industry, captivating players with its innovative and immersive gaming experiences. The mastermind behind the famous games Indian Rummy and Tambola House was launched in the year 2006. They introduced the concept of productivity along with gaming in India. Their games are available in various forms and are tailor-made to fit both mobile phones and tablets. Hailing from Delhi, this gaming company’s innovative approach caught the attention of industry giants, and in 2014, they secured an impressive $15 million in funding from Sequoia Capital.
Established in 2014 by Rajan Navani, JetSynthesys is a prominent game development company, operating under the umbrella of the esteemed Jet Line Group. With a diversified presence in fields like fintech and digital media, the Jet Line Group has earned a reputable brand status across various industries.
JetSynthesys is hailed as a pioneer in the realm of celebrity-based gaming experiences, where they have left an indelible mark. Among their remarkable portfolio, standouts include games like “Sachin Saga Cricket Champions,” “Being Salman,” and “Bajrangi Bhaijaan.” These celebrity-inspired titles have successfully captivated players, offering an immersive and unique gaming journey.
The company has ventured into newer avenues of gaming, including the realm of virtual reality (VR) games. Demonstrating their pioneering spirit, they have already unveiled the VR version of their acclaimed “Sachin Saga Cricket Champions” game, further enriching the gaming experience for players.
From being a simple website that lets users play sudoku online, Hashcube has developed into one of the top gaming startups in India. Co-founded by Deepan Chakravarthy and Ramprasad Rajendra in 2008, the company’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable.
Today, Hashcube boasts an impressive range of games, accessible through the iOS App Store, Google Play Store, or Facebook, catering to a diverse audience. Among their standout creations are engaging titles such as “Sudoku Quest,” “Gummy Pop,” and “DotGame.” However, it is their “Sudoku Quest” that has garnered widespread acclaim, resonating with over 2 million players, making it one of the most popular game sensations to emerge from India.
Mech Mocha was founded by Arpita Kapoor and Mohit Rangaraju in 2015. Their aim was to make gaming accessible and comprehensible in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
They have a variety of games like Ludo, carrom, cricket and knife rain to their credit. They have created a vernacular gaming platform for their users. Their mobile app is called Hello Play. Their growth has been so commendable that they have attracted investors like Accel, Blume Ventures, Shuwei Capital etc. The Indian Gaming startup was acquired by Flipkart in 2020.
Other Indian Gaming Startups
Some other gaming startups in India are:
PlaySimple Games
Rolocule
Zapak
Deftouch
Gameberry Labs
Conclusion
As we conclude our exploration of the top gaming startups in India, one thing becomes abundantly clear – the gaming industry in the country is thriving, and its potential knows no bounds. These visionary startups have harnessed the power of technology, creativity, and passion to craft exceptional gaming experiences that have resonated with players worldwide. Embrace the gaming revolution, and let the joy and excitement of these top gaming startups take you on a thrilling journey like never before!
FAQs
How many gaming companies are there in India?
According to Ambitionbox, there are over 333 gaming companies in India.
Which are the top Gaming Startups in India?
Top Gaming startups in India are:
Dream 11
Nazara Technologies
Paytm First Games
Games2Win
Moonfrog Labs
99 Games
Octro
JetSynthesys
Hashcube
Mech Mocha
How are gaming startups contributing to India’s gaming industry?
Gaming startups in India are playing a crucial role in shaping the gaming landscape by introducing unique and culturally relevant gaming experiences. They are fueling innovation, creating employment opportunities, and establishing India as a significant player in the global gaming market.
Which is the leading Game app development company in India?
Hyperlink InfoSystem is a leading game app development company in India.
Which gaming startup in India has achieved unicorn status?
Dream11 is one of the gaming startups in India that achieved unicorn status in 2019.
What are the best game developer company in the world?
Some of the best game developer companies in the world are:
Nintendo
Ubisoft
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Activision Blizzard
Epic Games
How do gaming startups monetize their games?
Gaming startups typically employ various monetization models, including in-app purchases, advertisements, subscriptions, and virtual currency systems. These strategies enable them to generate revenue while offering players free or freemium gaming experiences.
What is the future of the gaming industry in India?
The future for gaming startups in India is promising, with continued growth driven by technology adoption, an expanding user base, and the rise of esports. These startups are poised to explore new genres, embrace emerging technologies, and make India a significant player in the global gaming industry.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Discord.
People love to stay in touch whether it’s by talking to friends and family through video calls, messaging through apps, or touching base working remotely. Gamers are no different. That’s why online gaming and chatting go together like Han and Chewy.
Gamers have always faced two problems, how to talk to one another and how to organize people to get an online game going. Discord is one such app that was created by the gamers for gamers to solve such problems. But outside of the gamer’s realm, what is discord all about?
Discord is an easy-to-use free communication app, similar to apps like Skype or Slack but aimed mainly at gamers with a lot more features. Discord lets friends chat with each other at one to one or as a group via a server.
It provides user-friendly text, voice, screen-sharing, and video chat services through public or private servers that can be set up pretty quickly and easily. No doubt Discord started as a gamers’ chat app and became quite famous for it. But its users started finding non-gaming ways of using this platform which inspired Discord to make a few changes.
Discord specializes in text, image, video, and audio communication between users in a chat channel. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and in web browsers. One of the most critical differentiators that makes Discord the go-to app for video gamers is its open-bot-friendly ecosystem.
COVID forced everybody to social distance and communicate via chat platforms. So, because of its users and the pandemic Discord thought about growing beyond its only for-gamers image, and now it wants to be seen as a general-purpose chat app for everyone with even non-gaming needs and wants, to go mainstream all over the world, just like Zoom. Discord is for anyone who could use a place to talk with their friends and communities.
Discord – Target Market Size
Founded in 2015, Discord successfully identified who the early adopters of their platform would be, the gamers.
Leading Countries for Monthly Traffic to discord.com in July 2022
However, in recent years, as the company continues its expansion, the target market size has also been growing hand in hand with the same. The vicinity of their platform’s services is gradually starting to attract more users outside of the gaming community.
From large corporate meetings to job recruitments, from live karaoke nights to virtual wedding parties, the possibilities are pretty endless. That’s why they have changed the branding and introduced the new tagline which specifically says, “Your Place to Talk and Hang Out”.
In short, Discord is projecting itself because of the way forward for platforms where you’ll chat with friends, learn something online, or simply share ideas albeit you are not into gaming. They have successfully gained a sustainable advantage above their competition within the gaming sector and now the company appears to have shifted its focus to target users from various industries.
Whether you’re a part of a faculty club, gaming group, worldwide art community, or simply a couple of friends that want to spend time together, Discord makes it easy to speak a day and hang around more often.
About Discord’s logo, the most popular theory is that the discord logo is a game controller, with a face. But according to its Twitter account, it’s a friendly bot named Clyde.
Discord’s tagline says, “Your Place to Talk and Hang Out”. Whether you’re a part of a faculty club, gaming group, worldwide art community, or simply a couple of friends that want to spend time together, Discord makes it easy to speak a day and hang around more often. Discord is not just for people with gaming requirements, but for everyone to communicate.
Discord – Founder and History
Founded in May 2015 by Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, Discord continues to be the most preferred app for gamers for communicating while gaming.
The idea of Discord came into Jason Citron’s mind when he noticed how difficult it was for his team to work out tactics in games like Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends using available voice-over IP (VoIP) software. He founded OpenFeint, a social mobile gaming platform that got sold in 2011 for $104 million.
Founders of Discord – Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy
He founded a game development studio, Hammer & Chisel in 2012. Their first product was Fates Forever, released in 2014, which Citron anticipated being the primary MOBA game on mobile platforms, but it didn’t become commercially successful. He then noticed the glitches and issues faced by gamers all over the world while gaming which was communication. He also found that some VoIP options required players to type in IP addresses just to connect, while others were resource-heavy and had known security problems. This led the developers to develop a chat service that was much friendlier to use and based on more modern technologies.
Discord addressed all of the issues of its predecessors. It was free to use. It had a remarkable product design. It had a desktop client, but it also had an internet app. Users could invite friends with a link and start conversing through the browser without downloading anything.
Discord was publicly released in May 2015 under the URL discordapp.com. consistent with Citron, the sole area that they pushed Discord into was for the Reddit communities, finding that a lot of subreddit forums were replacing IRC servers with Discord ones. Discord became a known name among Esports and LAN tournament gamers, and other Twitch streamers.
Discord – Vision and Mission
“Discord wants you to build genuine relationships with your friends and communities close to home or around the world. Original, reliable, playful, and relatable. These are the values that connect our users and our employees at Discord.”
Discord’s mission is closely associated with its vision. Its mission is to bring people together around games. That’s why most of the app’s features consider meeting the requirements of gamers. For Discord, diversity and inclusiveness are critical a part of how it intends to succeed in its mission.
“It’s where your world talks. Discord is a voice, video and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities.”
Discord – Business Model
Discord is against advertisements and the selling of user data. It has been relying on funding money till recently and has no intentions to make users pay to use the application in the future.
Discord’s basic service is free. But there’s also a premium version called Nitro that comes with added features—custom emojis, higher-quality video for sharing gaming screens, and higher file-upload limits—starting from $2.99 monthly.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Citron said,
“I didn’t want to sell ads because I felt like selling ads would require us to spend a tremendous amount of energy investing in building ad technology that doesn’t make the end user experience better. It actually subtracts from the end user experience. So, we would be spending a ton of energy taking value away from our users so that we could make money. And I wanted to build a business where the incentives of our team and our user base were directly aligned. And that is why, at that moment, I said let’s not do the easy thing and slap ads on this. Let’s double down on Discord Nitro, which is all about making it more fun to talk and hang out, and see if we can build a real business around that.”
In Q2 2022, Discord reported $28.72 million in revenues, an increase of over $5 million compared to Q2 2021.
Almost all of Discord’s revenue comes from its Nitro, its premium enhancement bundle.
Discord has over 150 million active monthly users and over 300 million registered accounts.
In 2021, it was valued at $7 billion, doubling its value in under a year. In 2022 it was valued at $15 billion.
In-App Purchase Revenues of Discord Mobile App Worldwide
Discord – Funding and Investors
Discord has raised a total of $995.4M in funding over 16 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on March 12, 2022, from a Secondary Market round. Discord is funded by 31 investors. Arcane Group and Flat Capital are the most recent investors.
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Mar 12, 2022
Secondary Market
–
–
Mar 3, 2022
Secondary Market
–
–
Sep 15, 2021
Series H
$500M
Dragoneer Investment Group
Dec 17, 2020
Series H
$100M
Greenoaks Capital
Sep 29, 2020
Secondary Market
–
–
Jun 30, 2020
Series G
$100M
Index Ventures
Dec 21, 2018
Series F
$150M
Greemoaks Capital
Apr 19, 2018
Series E
$50M
–
Jan 1, 2017
Series D
$50M
Index Ventures
Jan 26, 2016
Series C
$20M
Greylock, Spark Capital
Feb 10, 2015
Series B
–
9+ Program, Benchmark, Tencent
Nov 21, 2013
Series A
$8.2M
Benchmark
Jul 11, 2012
Seed Round
$1.1M
–
Discord – Acquisitions
Discord acquired Blitz App on Nov 6, 2018. The gaming chat app giant acquires augmented reality startup Ubiquity6 in 2021. The latter was experiencing problems in finding audiences for its products, as per reports.
Acquiree Name
Date
Amount
About Acquiree
Blitz App
Nov 6, 2018
–
Your gaming coach for League of Legends, Valorant, CSGO, Fortnite, and more— powered by AI and built with professional players.
Ubiquity6
June 2021
–
An augmented reality startup founded in 2017 aimed to bring augmented reality experience to mobile users.
Discord – Partnership
After the initial growth spurt, Jason’s team had to come up with a strategy to reach out to a larger target audience for which they partnered with video game streamers such as Twitch. This partnership did result in more visibility, allowing more gamers to adopt as well as invite others to join the discord users’ community.
But obviously, Discord also faces several challenges. The principal among them is that it allows users anonymity that creates an “anything goes” environment. Anybody from anywhere can technically create “servers,” which are chat groups. This could also lead to younger users being exposed to adult content or bullying. For his part, Citron defended Discord by saying it kicks out users who are younger than 13 if they’re found, but verifying ages on the service is almost impossible.
“For teenagers, you know, obviously, it’s still important that parents are aware of apps that their kids are using, and sort of who they’re talking to on the internet,” says Citron.
During Q2 2022, over 27.7 million Discord accounts were deleted due to spam activity, and approx. 532,000 accounts were banned due to child safety concerns. Similarly, 106,00 accounts received a ban due to exploitative and unsolicited content approximately. Additionally, the platform permanently deleted nearly 27,500 accounts following reports of regulated or illegal activities.
Number of Banned Discord Accounts in Q2 2022
“The truth is that yes, I am [frustrated],” says Citron about the abuse. “We built Discord to be a way for people to be together with their friends and, as a parent, it’s important to me for that to be safe for everyone. Ensuring Discord is an inclusive and welcoming place for our users is our highest priority.”
Discord – Future Plans
Discord leveraged heavily on the essential human need for communicating. The strength of Discord lies in its ability to cater to the growing needs of huge web-based communities.
Discord continues to refresh and refine its services by creating perks like a guided bot, meme bots, bots that could fetch player stats, and many more which makes discord a fun platform for users to interact via. All of this could happen only because of the founding team’s in-depth knowledge of the gamer’s mindset and insight into industry trends.
It’s pushing to show the platform as a communication tool not only for gamers but for everyone from study groups to sneakerheads to gardening enthusiasts. At the top of June, Discord’s rebrand was complete. Its new tagline was “Your place to speak,” which cleared the misunderstanding of many folks that the app is simply for gamers.
In the coming years, according to Citron, Discord has many works to do including improving moderation tools and making sure the communities on its platform operate the way the company hopes is not being just confined to a group of people with gaming interests.
Conclusion
Discord is a popular communication platform that allows users to create and join virtual “servers” to chat and collaborate with others. It offers features such as text and voice chat, file sharing, and integration with other apps and services. It is widely used by gamers but has also gained popularity among other communities such as artists and educators. Overall, Discord is a versatile and user-friendly tool for online communication and collaboration.
FAQs
What kind of company is Discord Inc.?
Discord is an easy-to-use free communication app, similar to apps like Skype or Slack but aimed mainly at gamers with a lot more features. Discord lets friends chat with each other at one to one or as a group via a server.
Who founded Discord?
Discord was founded in May 2015 by Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy.
How does Discord make money?
Discord is against advertisements and the selling of user data. Its basic service is free. But there’s also a premium version called Nitro that comes with added features.
What is Discord used for?
Discord is used for voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media, and sharing files in private chats. It continues to be the most preferred app for gamers for communicating while gaming.
