Studio Sirah Raises Funding From Kalaari Capital For Global Launch Of Its Flagship Game

Bengaluru-based gaming studio Studio Sirah has raised $2.6 Mn in its pre-series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital and existing investor Lumikai.

The startup will utilise the fresh funds to launch its flagship game ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’ globally by June 2023. Besides, the funds will also help build Studio Sirah’s second gaming title, the startup said in a statement.

The funding round comes almost a year-and-a-half after the startup raised $830K in a seed funding round led by Lumikai and several other angel investors.

“Over the last year, we have worked hard to build a mid-core gaming studio from scratch, and launched a game which has both cultural resonance and global quality. The response has been amazing, both in India and abroad, and it is evident that there is a huge (and growing) market for uniquely Indian content,” said Abhaas Shah, cofounder and CEO of Studio Sirah.

“Over the coming decades, we hope to not only entertain Indian gamers, but to take a slice of India to the world at large,” he added.

Founded in 2020 by Abhaas Shah and Prateek Shah, Studio Sirah builds mid-core games, embedded with Indian culture and lore, for mobile and PC. The startup claims that Kurukshetra: Ascension has over 120K organic downloads in beta mode, while its DAU/ MAU ratio exceeds 20%, with average session times of over 25 minutes.

Studio Sirah said it aims to build a new white space in the gaming industry with its Indian-themed IPs that are gaining huge popularity across the globe.

“Our recently published ‘India State of Gaming 2022 survey indicates that 80% of players have a strong tendency to play games with Indian IP, and we believe that games with culturally resonant themes have the potential to significantly disrupt the Indian gaming market—especially in the mid-core category,” said Shriram Keeling, founding general partner at Lumikai.

In fact, the recent report by Lumikai suggested that in-app purchase revenues, particularly in mid-core games, would grow at a CAGR of 34% between FY22 and FY27. In FY22, mid-core games like BGMI and Free Fire were the fastest growing, achieving growth of 32% and grossing combined revenues of about $550 Mn, as per the report. 

“The mid-core genre like CCGs (collectible card games) has done well globally, including China and Japan, but is severely under-penetrated in the Indian market. There is immense potential for more core IPs to come out of India,” said Vamshi Krishna Reddy, partner at Kalaari Capital.

The Indian gaming industry is showing strong growth momentum with a host of new players emerging in the space despite the regulatory challenges.

Earlier this week, hyper-casual and mid-core online gaming startup Bowled.io received a strategic investment from Indian cricket commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle. Casual gaming startup Giga Fun Studios also raised $2.4 Mn earlier this month in its seed funding round led by Lumikai and Fireside Ventures. 

As per the Lumikai report, India’s gaming market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27% to reach a size of $8.6 Bn by FY27.

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