Lumikai leads seed funding in social gaming studio Bombay Play

Bombay Play Pvt. Ltd, which operates a gaming studio that develops properties with a social component, has raised $1 million (Rs 7.37 crore at current exchange rates) as part of its seed fundraising exercise.

The round in Bengaluru-based Bombay Play has been led by Lumikai, the interactive-media focussed firm that floated its maiden early-stage investment vehicle in August. It was set up by Salone Sehgal and Justin Keeling.

Lumikai has joined existing investors Playco and Leo Capital in this round, taking the total capital raised in this round to $2.5 million, Bombay Play said in a statement. As part of this round, Zynga and Playco co-founder Justin Waldron has joined the startup’s board of directors.

The studio was incorporated in 2016 by Oliver Jones and Abhas Saroha. Jones has worked at studios including Glu Mobile and Zynga, and co-founded Moonfrog Games, which has developed the card game Teen Patti Gold. Saroha led engineering departments at Zynga and Moonfrog, and has also worked with travel portal MakeMyTrip.com.

Bombay Play will use this seed capital to accelerate the development of several products including live games, social games, and multiplayer card and strategy board games. It will also concentrate on existing properties, which include Card Party, a game that has been downloaded over 10 million times.

Saroha said the company is also actively hiring talent across multiple roles.

Lumikai’s Sehgal said Jones and Saroha are building “creatively inclined” and data-driven game teams in India. “Their combined expertise in game design, live operations and scaling companies makes them one of the most experienced founding teams in the India gaming landscape,” Sehgal said.

This investment is the latest bet on a gaming startup based out of India. Growing mobile internet consumption and cheap hardware are among the biggest contributors to the ongoing growth of this segment.

In August, multi-game platform Gamezop raised $4.3 million in a Series A funding round that was led by the US-based Bitkraft Ventures. Velo Partners, FJ Labs and Survam Partners also participated.

In July, mobile game development studio Firescore Interactive Pvt. Ltd raised around Rs 3.7 crore in a funding round led by multinational studio and publisher CrazyLabs. View the article here: https://www.vccircle.com/alteria-floats-second-venture-debt-fund-hires-two-innoven-execs-as-partners