India’s 99Games raises series B funding to expand portfolio

Indian gaming startup 99Games has raised US$5 million in series B funding from Ascent Capital and existing investor Kalaari Capital. The company had earlier raised US$3.7 million.

99Games started out in 2008 as a games developer for PCs, but later adapted to mobile devices. Today, the super-indie mobile game studio makes casual games only for mobile phones and tablets. Its catalog spans across multiple genres including Dream Star, The Jim & Frank Mysteries, WordsWorth, Dhoom 3, and Star Chef.

99Games has a two-pronged strategy: building games through licensed intellectual properties (IPs) largely for the Indian market, and creating its own characters and IPs for a global audience. The funding will be used for building games around Indian IPs and also user-acquisition focused campaigns for Star Chef which it claims clocked US$1 million since its launch earlier this year.

“While our focus is global in the short term, we are certainly excited about bring gaming to the next billion population in India,” says Rohith Bhat, MD of 99Games.

Investments in gaming space

“India presents a great opportunity for mobile games with its predominantly young population, phenomenal growth in adoption of smart phones, and rich heritage in entertainment,” says Kumar Shiralagi, MD of Kalaari Capital. “Mobile games will play a critical role in fuelling growth in this domain.”

The country’s dominant gaming firm is Nazara Technologies which has also set up a seed stage gaming fund having invested in HashCube.

Another popular gaming company in India is Games2Win, which has raised multiple rounds of funding from Silicon Valley Bank and Clearstone Venture Partners. The firm had earlier acquired casual games studio Backyard Game FactorRy.

Other gaming startups in the nation include Rolocule Games and MadRat.