Giga Fun Studios Bags Funding From Lumikai, Others To Build ‘High Quality’ Casual Games

Casual gaming startup Giga Fun Studios has raised $2.4 Mn in a seed funding round led by gaming and interactive media focused VC fund Lumikai and Fireside Ventures.

The funding round also saw participation from All In Capital, Kettleborough VC and Riverwalk Holdings.

Bengaluru-based Giga Fun Studios was founded by a trio of game designers and developers – Krishnendu Mukherjee, Rahul Daga and Rahul Shekhar. The founders worked at renowned gaming firms such as MPL, Zynga, and m56 Studios earlier.

The startup plans to use the fresh funds to create ‘high quality’ casual games for Indian and global audiences. It plans to invest heavily on curating a stellar team as a hub for casual game developers, the startup said in a statement.

Giga Fun Studios will also focus on designing games with geo accessibility across the full game stack, including simple but compelling game loops, customised UI/UX design for domestic gamers, accessible pricing, and distribution via third party app stores, it added.

“We have been brainstorming the idea of creating a gaming studio that caters to the Indian audience and the core problem we mutually identified was that while current dominant casual games (such as Candy Crush) are very high in quality, they haven’t been able to fully unlock an Indian player base due to a lack of cultural resonance,” Mukherjee, cofounder and CEO of Giga Fun Studios, said.

“This is additionally visible in the lack of monetisation participation of the Indian player. With over 5 Bn downloads, India is one of the largest download markets for casual games. Our belief is that with the right themes and geo-specific mechanics, we will be able to crack adoption and monetisation for casual games in India,” Mukherjee added.

While the gaming industry is thriving in India, casual gamers account for a significant chunk of overall gamers as non-gamers tend to play casual games at the beginning. Moreover, any user with even an entry-level smartphone and mobile data can play casual games which makes the segment more accessible for the common mass.

According to a KPMG report, India’s online gaming market was estimated at INR 14,500-15,500 Cr at the end of FY22. There were 430-460 Mn gamers, with more than 90% being mobile or casual gamers.

With the growth of the industry, the government is also increasing its focus on the regulatory aspects of the industry. Recently, the Centre appointed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as the nodal ministry to oversee the online gaming industry.

Following this, the ministry published draft online gaming rules under which it proposed a self-regulatory mechanism for online gaming companies. The rules have been published as draft amendments to the IT Rules, 2021. The ministry is also reportedly planning to introduce a set of rules to curb children’s addiction to gaming.