HighXP Bags Funding For Launching Casual Social Games

Casual gaming studio startup HighXP has raised $2.2 Mn in a seed funding round led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Prime Venture Partners and Gemba Capital. Other angel investors including Junglee Games’ cofounder and COO Rahul Bhardwaj, Owl Capital, Gaming JetSynthesys’ CEO Anuj Tandon, and Property Finder’s VP Engineering, Giri Patil also participated in the round. 

Founded by Shankara Seethappa and Raghu Sankar, Bengaluru based HighXP offers casual games to the global audience on social media. The founders aim to develop captivating games that resonate with a global audience.

The startup stated that the funding will be used to invest in new talent and expand team across all functions. Additionally, the funding will also play a crucial role in accelerating the growth of HighXP’s debut product, Doodle Me, which is a social drawing and guessing game designed for players aged five and above. 

The startup noted that the global audience for such games is increasing globally. Sharing data from a report prepared by SuperData, it stated that there are more than 1.2 Bn gamers engaging in casual games annually, with approximately 58.86% of them playing games on mobile devices. 

According to several studies, as stated by HighXP, the global number of game downloads is expected to reach 181 Bn by 2026. In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) expects the revenue of the Indian mobile gaming industry to reach $5 Bn by 2025. 

However, the government is planning to bring the online gaming industry in India under regulation for user protection. The All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) has drafted a model charter for self-regulatory bodies (SRBs) for the online gaming sector and sought inputs from industry players on it.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the online gaming rules in April 2023 and directed the formation of these SRBs to evaluate whether to permit such games or not. 

Recently, a study conducted by cybersecurity firm Surfshark revealed that popular games including 8 Ball Pool, Gardenscapes, Subway Surfers, have a higher-than-average data hunger index.

However, certain Indian online gaming platforms have grown widely. Recently, online gaming unicorn MPL has entered the fast-growing African gaming market with the launch of its app in Nigeria.

In another instance, gaming platform Rooter raised $16 Mn to improve technology capabilities, sharpen its product bouquet, and further enhance user experience on the platform.