Gaming

Gaming Community Startup STAN Raises $8.5 Mn From Google’s AI Fund, Bandai Namco & Others

• ByStartupStory     |    August 1, 2025

In a major boost to India’s growing gaming ecosystem, community-driven gaming startup STAN has raised $8.5 million (INR 74.46 Cr) in its Series A funding round. The investment was led by a consortium of Japanese gaming giants, including Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc, Square Enix, and Reazon Holdings, alongside Google’s AI Futures Fund and Aptos Labs. Existing investors such as General Catalyst, GFR Fund, T-Accelerate Capital, and Pix Capital also participated in the round.

Founded in 2015 by Parth Chadha, Nauman Mulla, and Rahul Singh, STAN (owned by GetStan Technologies Pte Ltd) has emerged as a vibrant digital community for gamers, content creators, and publishers. The startup facilitates meaningful connections between gamers while providing tools for creators to grow and monetize their content.

With this new round of funding, STAN aims to scale its presence across India and other mobile-first markets, enhance AI-powered personalisation, build creator-focused tools, and integrate new solutions for gaming publishers and ecosystem partners. The company plans to double down on innovation in community-led gaming infrastructure, unlocking new monetisation opportunities for developers and creators alike.

“In the last two years, we’ve grown 25X purely through product-led growth. We’re building the next billion-dollar social company out of India, and we’re doing it the only way we know fast, focused, and user-first,” said Parth Chadha, CEO and Co-founder of STAN.

Currently, STAN claims to serve a user base of over 12 million, primarily from Tier II and Tier III cities in India, a market it sees as central to the next phase of digital gaming growth.

Notably, Nazara Technologies acquired a 15.86% stake in STAN in September 2023 for INR 18.4 Cr, highlighting the rising investor confidence in India’s gaming communities.

On the financial front, STAN has demonstrated steady growth. Its revenue doubled to $1.8 Mn in FY24 from $0.9 Mn in FY23, while EBITDA losses reduced to $0.9 Mn, down from $1.2 Mn in the previous year, indicating a path toward stronger unit economics.

The STAN funding comes amid a larger wave of momentum in India’s gaming ecosystem. In recent months, several prominent funds and accelerator programs have been launched to back the next generation of gaming startups. In June 2025, Nazara Technologies committed INR 4.74 Cr to Play Venture Fund III and F4 Venture Fund I, while Meta rolled out its Gaming Accelerator in India, partnering with Kalaari Capital, Bitkraft Ventures, Lumikai Fund, and Elevation Capital.

Other startups such as Felicity Games, Funstop Games, Metashot, and Kratos Gamer Network (KGeN) have also seen fresh capital infusions this year, showing investor appetite for the sector.

According to PwC, India’s online gaming sector is poised to become a INR 66,000 Cr market by 2028, powered by its 435+ million online gamers the second largest in the world.

With a robust product pipeline, strong creator community, and renewed capital backing, STAN is positioning itself as a central player in India’s next-generation gaming economy.

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