WinZO Games, a vernacular real-money gaming platform, based out of Delhi, has bagged $5 million (approx ₹34 crore) in series A funding. The round was led by Kalaari Capital and messaging and payments platform Hike.
While, in 2018 as well, Kalaari Capital had led the company’s seed round, and Rahul Garg, principal of Kalaari, said that the team is highly impressed with WinZO’s growth trajectory and strong execution.
WinZO Games was founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018. The platform offers esports vernacular gaming platform with monetary benefits and is available in 10 languages.
The company offers games of skill such as carrom, cricket, 8-ball pool, Sniper 3D, Bubble Shooter, Fruit Samurai, Knife Up, fantasy leagues, and trivia-based games. These games are acquired from developers and studios from across the world, and published by WinZO.
The company claims to have more than 7 Mn registered users across Tier 2/3/4/5 cities. It claims that users are currently spending more than 55 minutes inside the app on average every day.
WinZO games claims that the top 20% of the users are already spending 60% of their smartphone usage time on the platform.
“Gaming to us has always been a new, bite-sized source of entertainment for the masses. As we unbundle Hike, we think of our investment in WinZO and its stellar team as a strong bet in the segment,” said Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO, Hike.
Last week, WinZo games announced a $1.5 million fund to support game developers and acquire content for the platform.
Whereas, according to the Evolving Landscape of Sports Gaming in India report, the fantasy sports industry is already worth INR 43.8 billion and is said to reach INR 118.8 billion by FY23 with a growth rate of CAGR 22.1%.
Some of the significant vernacular gaming platforms includes GamePind, Dream11, Games2Win, and many more.
