India Roundup: WinZo sets up $20m game developer fund, and other news

WinZo launches US$20 million Game Developer Fund III

• WinZo, a vernacular social gaming platform, has announced the launch of the third edition of its Game Developer Fund worth US$20 million, the largest among the company’s funds. In November 2020, it set up its second fund worth US$5 million.
• The company said it is looking to invest across all formats of interactive entertainment, including content creation and gaming. WinZo also plans to provide capital investment as well as support in infrastructure and monetization for the companies backed by its fund.
• In July, WinZo raised US$65 million in a series C round led by Griffin Gaming Partners. Prior to that, it secured US$18 million in a series B round led by Makers Fund, Courtside Ventures, and Bain Capital co-chairman Steve Pagliuca.

Swiggy could turn into decacorn as it looks to raise US$800 million

• The food delivery startup is in talks with both existing and new investors to raise US$800 million in a new funding round, which could see its valuation go past US$10 billion, according to an Entrackr report that cited two sources.
• This would grow the company’s valuation by around 90%, the report added. In July, the company raised US$1.25 billion at a valuation of US$5.6 billion.
• The July round also marked SoftBank’s much-anticipated entry into India’s food delivery space, which has several big players such as Zomato.

Analytics startup PredictiVu secures US$1.5 million pre-seed

• Lead investor: Market Xcel Data Matrix
• Other investors: Nomura Research Institute and Infobridge Asia
• Stage: Pre-seed
• Funds used for: Product development and improvement of AI capabilities, among others
• About the startup: The business-to-business startup provides end-to-end AI-based business insights on several categories such as consumer behavior and market intelligence. The company says its dashboard is connected to 75,000 retail touchpoints across over 150 cities in India.