Indian game-streaming startup bags $1.6m in Elevation-led seed round

Turnip, an India-based game livestreaming and community platform, said it has secured over US$1.6 million in a seed round led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Better Capital.

Photo credit: Turnip

Founded in April 2020, Turnip aims to reimagine communities and interactions for gaming in India by empowering game streamers, esports players, and gaming groups to run interactive experiences for their communities.

With the platform, creators can stream on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, while running interactive experiences and monetizing the additional engagement.

The company said it plans to use the funds to recruit talent as it aims to bolster its platform.

The startup comprises a team of 12 employees from companies such as Cure Fit, Razorpay, Google, Spotify, Flipkart, Rivigo, Paytm, and Swiggy. Turnip claims its app has amassed over 250,000 users so far.

“The advent of the powerful smartphone and cheap data rates have pushed gaming into the spotlight,” said Turnip co-founder Pooja Dubey. “Tiding along with this transformative wave, we want to re-imagine community and interactions for gaming by creating a platform where mobile gamers can come together and share their love for gaming.”

The Indian mobile gaming market is seeing over 600 million gamers who spend over an hour on their device each day – higher than the average of 45 minutes that is spent on over-the-top platforms like Netflix, said Turnip in a statement.