Gamingtech

Casual Gaming Studio QuriousBit Secures $2 Million Funding from Lumikai and General Catalyst

• ByStartupStory     |    September 28, 2023

Casual puzzle gaming studio QuriousBit announced on September 27 that it has successfully raised $2 million in seed funding. The primary objective behind this funding is to develop puzzle games targeting global audiences.

The investment round was spearheaded by Lumikai, a gaming and interactive media venture fund, with notable participation from General Catalyst.

QuriousBit was founded by former PlaySimple executives, Ramakrishna Reddy Y L and Shubham Joshi. Together, their previous game creations have garnered over 125 million app installations and generated a combined revenue exceeding $350 million. Impressively, seven of their titles maintained positive EBITDA margins, underlining their exceptional track record in the gaming industry.

“We see a huge opportunity in casual puzzle games beyond match-3 and blast genres. We believe some of these genres are ripe to disrupt with innovative core gameplay mechanics and deeper narratives. Our aim is to build a world-class gaming studio based out of India, entertaining global audiences,” said founder Ramakrishna Reddy Y L.

The startup plans to allocate the raised capital to the development of puzzle games, with a particular emphasis on crafting games with rich narratives within various sub-genres of the casual gaming market. This segment is considered “untapped and underserved.” Additionally, the funds will be used to recruit top talent.

Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner at Lumikai, remarked, “A fresh and innovative approach both in game design and distribution is imperative to achieve category-leading success in the highly competitive global casual gaming market given current market conditions. Ram and Shubham’s deep thinking, category expertise, and design orientation deeply impressed us.”

Anand Chandrasekaran, Partner at General Catalyst, expressed their confidence in audacious founders from India building for a global audience. He further stated, “When we met Rama and Shubham, we became fans of their deep expertise, having driven the growth of PlaySimple’s games to over $100M in revenues, resulting in one of the best exits in the Indian ecosystem to date.”

Over the past year, India’s casual gaming sector has seen a surge in seed funding rounds, reflecting the nation’s burgeoning potential as a global gaming hub. Several startups in this space have secured substantial investments, highlighting the robust growth of the Indian gaming industry.

India is currently the fastest-growing video games market in Asia, both in terms of revenue and the number of gamers. It is projected that mobile and PC gaming revenue in India will reach $868 million in 2023, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 17.2 percent, ultimately reaching $1.58 billion by 2027, according to Niko Partners, a prominent market research and consulting firm specializing in video games, esports, and streaming in Asia.

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