Flipkart Forays Into Gaming; Acquires Startup Mech Mocha

Ecommerce giant Flipkart has played its new card with the acquisition of Bengaluru-based mobile gaming startup Mech Mocha for an undisclosed valuation to strengthen its foray into the gaming segment.

The Walmart-owned platform has acquired the Intellectual Property of Mech Mocha and team, the company said in a statement.

“Mech Mocha’s skilled gaming team will also join Flipkart as the company continues to focus on developing new and innovative formats to engage with users on its platform,” the company added.

Founded by Arpita Kapoor and Mohit Rangaraju in 2014, Mech Mocha is a mobile gaming startup that aims to disrupt mobile entertainment for Indians. It is backed by investors including Accel Partners, Blume Ventures and Shunwei Capital.  

Arpita Kapoor, cofounder and CEO, Mech Mocha, said, “With Vocal for Local being the focus for digital apps across the nation, this strategic backing of Flipkart provides us an opportunity to be part of a larger ecosystem that helps us create unique social gaming experiences for Indian users. 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.”

Last year, the gaming startup entered into a strategic partnership with US-based Agora.io, a video and live broadcasting platform.

Mech Mocha had earlier raised up to $10 Mn (INR 71 Cr), with the backing of Korean and Japanese investors.

Prakash Sikaria, vice-president, Flipkart, said, “At Flipkart, we are focused on providing consumers with an opportunity to access great products and content while giving them an engaging experience. We see many first-time ecommerce users come online through formats such as video and games, as they build familiarity with the medium. Our observations of Flipkart GameZone, reflect this trend as we see a strong correlation between casual gamers becoming early shoppers on Flipkart for their digital journey.”

According to a report by BARC & Nielsen, the number of smartphone game users per week grew from 60% in pre-Covid times to 68% during the lockdown. Similarly, the time spent on mobile games per user per week went from 151 minutes before the lockdown to 218 minutes during the lockdown.