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Alibaba backed UCWeb, under its accelerator ‘’9 Apps Dev’, has launched a $20 Mn fund for Indian gaming startups. The announcement was made at the PocketGamer Connects conference in Bangalore.
The plan is to invest into 100 startups with each receiving an amount of $500K. Also, the team would mentor these startups to monetise and popularise their product, without having any share in their in their revenue.
As per reports, the Indian gaming industry currently has 250 game developers and the gaming market is expected to grow to $571.6 Mn at 134.5 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) this year. As per Robert Bu, general manager for UCWeb India, the Indian gaming market is forecasted to grow nearly five-fold in three years – from $416 Mn in 2015 to $2 Bn in 2018.
With an increase in use of smartphones, game developers have an open platform to show their creativity. However, they often lack on monetisation front as in-app purchases are usually ignored by the users. The investors are already having a close watch on the space and there are some who have already caught their eyes such as Moonfrog Labs, Octro Inc, etc.
Also, there are issues related to cheap and low quality handsets which does not support gaming environment. “Smart developers will not only develop low-end games suited for the market as it is currently but also plan ahead for a better gaming environment in two to three years’ time,” said Robert.
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