WinZO Launches $50 Mn Gaming Fund To Invest In Startups

SUMMARY

WinZO would invest in startups across all forms of interactive entertainment – game developers and publishers, content creation, live-ops, and security

WinZO will invest up to $10 million in a startup from the fund and expects to invest at least $10 Mn in US-based startups

Till now, WinZO has invested in Web3 gaming firm Upskillz, Web3 gaming community startup IndiGG, gaming studio Bombay Play, among others

Gaming startup WinZO on Monday (March 20) said it has launched a $50 Mn ‘Game Developer Fund’ to invest in global gaming startups.

WinZO said it would invest in startups across all forms of interactive entertainment – game developers and publishers, economies around gaming, content creation, live-ops, and security.

The games would cover diverse genres from casual, action, sports to mid-core multiplayer games such as tennis, golf, among others, it said in a statement.

This is the fourth edition of WinZO’s Game Developer Fund. In 2021, the fund size was $20 Mn, while it was $5 Mn and $1.5 Mn in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Till now, WinZO has invested in Web3 gaming firm Upskillz, Web3 gaming community startup IndiGG, gaming studio Bombay Play, among others, across seed and growth stages.

WinZO will invest up to $10 million in a startup from the fund and expects to invest at least $10 Mn in US-based startups.

“Game development is often perceived as a hit or miss business, however, over the years we have been able to build a strong framework to identify winners. Given our platform play at WinZO where we have access to performance of over 100 games by more than 50 developers across diverse genres, we believe we are well poised to identify signs, mechanics and metrics of an early hit,” Paavan Nanda, cofounder of WinZO, said.

Founded by Nanda and Saumya Singh in 2018, WinZO is an online skill-based gaming startup that associates with third-party developers to host games on its mobile-based application.

The Gurugram-based startup has raised a total funding of $100 Mn across multiple rounds from investors such as California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, gaming funds like Maker’s Fund and Courtside, and Kalaari Capital.

Amid the funding winter and regulatory uncertainties, the funding raised by Indian gaming startups declined to $349 Mn in 2022 from $1.74 Bn in 2021.

The size of the Indian gaming industry was estimated to be $2.6 Bn in FY22 and is expected to increase to over $8.6 Bn by FY27, according to a report by VC fund Lumikai.