Gaming startup 99Games secures funding from Dream Incubator, existing investors

Udupi-based gaming startup 99Games Online Pvt. Ltd. has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Japanese investment firm Dream Incubator.

Existing investors Ascent Capital and Kalaari Capital also participated in this round, Rohith Bhat, managing director and chief executive of 99Games told Techcircle.

The firm will use the funds to develop its two new intellectual properties (IPs) and to establish an India-specific gaming IP, he explained.

99Games Online Pvt Ltd was previously part of Robosoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which was started in 1996 by Bhat as a games developer for desktops but later adapted to mobile devices in 2008. However, 99Games became an independent entity in 2015. Robosoft also owns another subsidiary Global Delight Technologies Pvt Ltd.

While Robosoft designs and develops apps as a third part entity, 99Games develops mobile games and Global Delight creates audio and video apps.

Some of the popular titles that 99Games has created is bike racing game 'Dhoom: 3 The Game', 'Sultan: The Game' and 'Fan: The Game', all of which are based on the popular Bollywood films.

The firm was started in 1996 by Bhat as a games developer for desktops, but later adapted to mobile devices in 2008.

The gaming company had in April 2015 raised $12 million (Rs 75 crore) in a Series B round led by private equity firm Ascent Capital. The round also saw existing investor Kalaari Capital make an additional investment.

The gaming startup space has seen some investment activity in the past few months.

Earlier this month, Chinese venture capital firm Shunwei Capital along with Accel Partners was in advanced talks to invest $2 million in gaming startup Mech Mocha Game Studios Pvt Ltd. This would be the Chinese VC firm's debut investment in India.

A week later, Byju's founder and chief executive told TechCircle that the firm was looking to acquire gaming and learning apps in the US to accelerate its international expansion.

In November last year, Bengaluru-based mobile gaming startup PlaySimple Games secured $4 million (nearly Rs 27 crore) in a Series A round led by SAIF Partners and IDG Ventures India. In the same month, Mumbai-based mobile games developer Nazara Technologies said it may opt for a public market listing in 2018. Around the same time, social media giant Facebook Inc. launched a feature called Facebook Instant Games, which will allow users to play games with messenger contacts.

In September 2016, mobile games publisher Flixy Games Pvt Ltd raised $425,000 (Rs 2.8 crore) in seed funding from Rebright Partners, a Japan-based venture capital firm.