Walmart’s Flipkart acquihires mobile gaming startup Mech Mocha

Indian ecommerce major Flipkart announced its acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) of mobile gaming startup Mech Mocha, the company behind the live-social gaming platform Hello Play.

Photo credit: moovstock / 123RF Stock Photo.

In addition to the IP, Mech Mocha’s gaming team is also set to join Flipkart as the latter continues to hone in on developing new tactics aimed at driving user engagement on its platform.

Social mobile gaming has seen a surge in popularity in India as strict movement restrictions (due to the COVID-19 lockdown) continue to keep people inside their houses, Flipkart said in a statement. A Financial Express report claimed that India’s gaming scene is currently seeing a surge in domestic and foreign direct investments, raking in over US$450 million from 2014 through 2020 and with more than 400 active startups.

Flipkart vice-president Prakash Sikaria said that the company observes many first-time ecommerce users jump onto its platform through mediums such as videos and games. Flipkart currently has a mini-game feature on its app called Flipkart GameZone, which allows customers to win deals available on its platform.

“Our observations of Flipkart GameZone reflect this trend as we see a strong correlation between casual gamers becoming early shoppers on Flipkart [on] their digital journey,” he added.

Founded in 2014, Mech Mocha operates a gaming platform that’s available in seven local Indian languages. It has over 10 games, including multiplayer titles such as Ludo, Carrom, Snakes and Ladders, and Cricket. Flipkart invested in Mech Mocha alongside Blume Ventures in its 2015 seed round.

“We look forward to being a part of the Flipkart ecosystem and leveraging the Flipkart Cloud Platform, Super Coins, Reward store, and Flipkart Ads platform to strengthen the platform for our users,” said Mech Mocha co-founder and CEO Arpita Kapoor.

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The announcement comes less than a month after Flipkart said it will invest over US$200 million to acquire a 7.8% stake in fashion and lifestyle company Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. The ecommerce giant, along with its US-based parent firm Walmart, also recently announced a joint investment of US$30 million into supply chain startup Ninjacart.