Dream11, Farville10 – Top 10 startups behind these gaming apps in India

List of top 10 gaming startups in India that have made some famous mobile games

Indian mobile gaming industry has started to boom the startup culture. The last couple of years has seen the mobile gaming industry growing at an exponential rate. Digital Revolution has been the primary contributor behind this growth story. With the growing penetration of smartphones, and the improved bandwidth of internet access, low latency, improved screen size and features of smartphones has increased the access to the games launched by these companies.  This has shifted the public interest towards the side of gaming.

Scope of Gaming Industry in India today

Today, online gamers form about 300 million in number in 2019, according to the India’s Digital Future Report of KPMG. Indian fantasy sports platforms accounted for 80.62% of all investments till Q1-2019. The Indian gaming market is inevitably going to take over China by 2023 in terms of gamers and revenue being generated by these games. According to the INC42 Labs, between 2014 to Q1 of 2019, the venture capital funding in Indian gaming startups reached over the $330 Million.

There are a number of home-grown startups in the country which have made some of the most popular gaming platforms. Some of the companies were found post-Flipkart, while some have been a part of the industry since the beginning of time, i.e since 2000. Let’s look at the top 10 mobile gaming startups in India, which are revolutionizing the gaming industry in India –

1. Games2Win

This is a Mumbai-based startup which was founded in 2005. The company offers in-game ad networks, as well as social networks for games. In addition to that, it is obviously developing traditional mobile gaming platforms. The games are available across different genres and can be found on the biggest app stores – Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon – all of who have helped generate a net of over 21 million users.

In the meantime, between 2007 to 2013, Games2Win has raised $15 million in three rounds of funding getting funds from Nexus Venture Partners and ICICI Venture. 

2. Dream11

Dream11 is one of the first mobile based company offering sports like Cricket, Football, Basketball, even Kabaddi. It was founded in 2012. Dream11 has been successful in raising funds in three series of funding, and is now holding 20 million users. They expect to increase the online gamers to 100 million by 2020. Dream11 is in talks with the world’s biggest gaming company – Tencent, which is reportedly ready with an investment of $100 million in 2020. This would peg the online fantasy sports startup at a valuation of $400 million-$450 million.

3. 99Games

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Remember how Dhoom 3 was promoted across platforms with a brand new game on the same theme as the movie? 99Games, a company founded in Udupi in 2008, was responsible for that and various other games including games for movies like Sultan and Fan. Its success story began with the popularity of iOS based WordsWorth. Currently, its restaurant management game – StarChef and word making game SpellUp has gained a lot of attention.

4. Octro

Have you ever played Teen Patti, Indian Rummy and Tambola Housie? Next time you come across the game, remember that it is Octro, a 2006 based company, which is responsible for the launch.The company aims to create both productivity and gaming applications for mobile phones and tablets. Located in New Delhi, it has received a Series-A funding of $15 million from Sequoia Capital.

5. PlaySimple Games

PlaySimple Games are enthusiastic in creating engaging mobile products connecting with people. They have built some popular games like Farmville, Bubble Safari, Mafia Wars, Yoville, etc. In 2016, the company had raised $4 million from SAIF Partners and existing investors IDG Ventures in the Series A funding. Fresh investments will further be used to beef up the company’s products, engineering, and analytics team.

6. Mech Mocha

The Bangalore-based company was founded in 2013 by IIIT Gwalior alumnis. In the early 2014 itself, they raised funding from Devendra Parulekar, Sanjay Mehta, Ravi Trivedi, along with seed funding from Flipkart and Blume Ventures – a whopping $1 million. Mech Mocha is utilizing its Indian Market Insights, along with the in-house technology platform to customize the gameplay for Indian audiences in particular.

7. Nazara Technologies

Nazara Technologies has achieved a lot since the founding in 2000 in the gaming industry. Startup first turned profitable in 2007, increasing its profit to $10.3 million in a decade. The company is an exclusive distributor for Electronic Arts, and a collaborator with Stick Sports. 

Over the years, the company has raised over $64 million in funding. In the coming days, Nazara is going to launch its IPO, making it India’s first gaming company to go public.

8. Gameberry Labs

Feb 2017 starts with a story of two friends in Bangalore, who decided to take on the Gaming World with a storm of creative ideas and out of the box practices. They started working on and finally built a form of digital Ludo and Parchisi, available for download on Play Store and App Store. According to Gameberry, they strive for keeping their culture creative. Artists, Designers, Developers – each have their autonomy helping them learn and innovate. 

9. Deftouch

Aimed at dominating the market of real money gaming, DeftTouch – A Bengaluru based startup claims to have built a world’s first – a real-time multiplayer cricket game. The name of the game is All Star Cricket. Started with just the two founders – Keshav Sunder and Ninad Bhagwat, the startup now is a 20-member strong team. A subcontinent considering cricket as their religion, Deftouch is already at an advantage cutting through the diverse set of users across languages, locations, and cultures.

10. Zapak

Promoted by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Entertainment, Zapak.com is an online gaming portal with globally provided browser games. The company was launched in 2006 and since then there has been no looking back. It is one of the largest gaming companies in India, drawing the interests of its users in casual games, and massively multiplayer online games.

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