WinZO To Invest $50 Mn In Gaming Ecosystem As Part Of Game Developer Fund

Gaming startup WinZO plans to invest USD 50 million (about Rs 410 crore), in the global gaming ecosystem as part of its flagship Game Developer Fund, the company said on Monday.

The company expects to invest at least USD 10 million of the fund in US-based startups as part of the programme.

"Indian gaming startup WinZO announced the fourth edition of its flagship Game Developer Fund with the largest ever corpus of USD 50 million to support the global gaming ecosystem. It expects to invest at least USD 10 million of the fund in US-based startups," the company said in a statement.

WinZO is looking to invest the fund in startups across all forms of interactive entertainment-- game developers and publishers, economies around gaming, content creation, live-ops, and security.

The games cover diverse genres from casual, action, sports to mid-core multiplayer games such as tennis, golf, more.

"Given our platform play at WinZO where we have access to the 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.

"In addition, being operators ourselves, we tend to create a melting pot for our portfolio companies for them to exchange ideas, do pilots or leverage WinZO's community and resources," WinZO co-founder Paavan Nanda said.

To date, WinZO has invested in startups like Web3 gaming firm Upskillz, Web3 gaming community startup IndiGG, UK-based gaming studio Village Studio, India-based gaming studio Bombay Play, and blockchain-based creator economy and streaming startup Glip.

The investments were ranging from seed to growth stage. With the new fund, WinZO is willing to commit a cheque size of up to USD 10 million in a startup.

While the revenues of the mobile gaming industry in the US declined in the first quarter of 2022, India's gaming industry is growing at a 38 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to cross USD 10 billion in five years, the statement said.

India also boasts of clocking more than 15 billion mobile game downloads, the highest in the world.

WinZO has previously partnered with global gaming companies like Voodoo and Next Wave to launch their games in India and to add over 100 games on its app across categories like card games, board games, fantasy, strategy, arcade etc.

"In the past, global gaming companies have found it difficult to earn revenues in India. The monetisation issue faced by game developers and studios can be attributed to the replication of conventional game monetisation models in India despite the wide economic and cultural gaps.

"WinZO's unique monetisation model and proprietary formats are powered by micro-transactions that range from Rs 1-10. This is much favoured by the Indian audience," Nanda said.

WinZO has raised a total of USD 100 million across multiple rounds from California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, other gaming funds like Maker's Fund, and Courtside, and India-based VC Kalaari Capital.

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