IndiGG, a part of Yield Guild Games (YGG), on Wednesday said it has raised $6 million (about Rs 44.7 crore) in funding from Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others.
The round also saw participation from Jump Capital, Variant Fund, Dune Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, Transcend Fund, Animoca Brands, Play Ventures, Backed and Sfermion, IVC, Emfarsis and others, a statement said.
Angel investors included Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management and executives from the Indian gaming and entertainment industry, including Hungama, Nazara, WinZo, Hindustan Talkies and Mobile Premier League (MPL), it added.
The funds - including an additional $1 million pre-seed led by YGG - will be utilised by IndiGG to focus on several key areas to fuel platform growth and onboard Indian gamers as well as to expand the team, and organising community events, the statement said.
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According to a November 2021 report by BCG and Sequoia Capital India, monetisation of the Indian gaming market is already in excess of $1.8 billion with more than 400 million people already playing online video games in the country with the industry set to triple in size by 2025.
"India is set to take a leadership role in establishing this new Web3 frontier. We have the talent, capital and confidence to ensure that we are in the driver's seat and games are the perfect vehicle to engage our next generation of talent," Hemant Mohapatra, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said.
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IndiGG will soon support NFT assets for Axie infinity, Pegaxy, Fancy Birds, Nyan Heroes, Nitro League before onboarding new games for the Indian market, the statement said.
Polygon Studios and its thriving ecosystem of Web3 games — including Zed Run, Skyweaver by Horizon Games, Decentraland, and Decentral Games — will ensure IndiGG scholars continually have access to the latest releases, it added.
“The play-to-earn guild model was first proven by YGG in the Philippines, our partnership with Polygon Studios will bring this life-changing model to one of the gaming communities in one of world's largest emerging economies so they can reap the benefits of Web3,” Gabby Dizon, co-founder of YGG, said.
Play-to-earn games typically harness NFTs - blockchain-based digital assets needed by players to play these games.
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