Hypersocial Gaming Startup Bombay Play Secures $7 Mn To Ramp Up Game Offerings

Bengaluru-based hypersocial gaming startup Bombay Play has raised $7 Mn in its Series A investment round led by Kalaari Capital with participation from investors including Winzo, AdvantEdge VC and AMEA Ventures.

The round also saw participation from existing investors including Lumikai Fund, Leo Capital and PlayCo. 

Bombay Play will use the fresh capital to scale its existing hypersocial game offerings, supporting upcoming projects while also devoting a sum towards innovation in the segment.

According to the startup, adding this fresh infusion, Bombay Play’s total fund raise has reached to more than $9.5 Mn. Further, the latest round has increased its valuation fourfold of its Pre-Series A round in 2020.

“Our team’s ambition is to disrupt the current casual games market with hypersocial game designs by leveraging our cross platform distribution channels. We are delighted to have found the confidence of investors in our journey to build a gaming innovation factory in India. With the amount raised, we will scale up existing offerings while investing in cutting-edge technologies to elevate the social experience of casual gamers worldwide,” said Oliver Jones, CEO at Bombay Play. 

Founded in 2018 by Oliver Jones and Abhas Saroha, Bombay Play focuses on the hypersocial gaming genre—HTML5-based casual games that are designed with a social-first approach and are instantly playable across various platforms.

Jones previously cofounded social cards gaming business–Moonfrog Games that created popular game Teen Patti Gold. Also, he led game design at Glu Mobile and Zynga while Saroha previously worked at Moonfrog, Zynga and MakeMyTrip. 

Bombay Play claims to have grown 3X year-on-year (YoY) since its inception. It currently employs 50 people but is planning to double its headcount by the end of FY 2022. 

As per MoneyControl, Bombay Play has created various games including Dice Merge Puzzle, Card Party, and Daily Word Puzzle. 

Besides on the Internet, the games can be accessed on Google and Apple’s app marketplaces. Bombay Play presently monetises its games via advertisements and in-app purchases. 

On January 20 2022, another gaming startup IndiGG raised $6 Mn in seed funding from Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Variant Fund, Play Ventures Dune Ventures and Jump Capital among others.

Angel investors including Alexis Ohanian (Reddit), Alan Howard (Brevan Howard Asset Management) and executives from MPL, Hungama, Nazara, WinZo and Hindustan Talkies also participated in the round. 

Mobile-first gaming community startup Turnip and Delhi NCR-based gaming startup Zupee also raised money in January this year. Turnip raised $12.5 Mn in a Series A funding round co-led by Greenoaks and Elevation Capital while Zupee raised $72 Mn in Series B funding round taking the funding collected in the round to $102 Mn.

According to a Statisa report, the online gaming industry across India was valued at around INR 79 Bn in 2021 against INR 65 Bn in 2020. The sector is expected to grow more than INR 150 Bn by 2024.