A game streaming startup called Loco recently announced on Thursday that it had raised $42 million in funding to build what it has dubbed “Twitch for India” by some investors.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Hashed, Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, Krafton, Lumikai, Korea Investment Partners, and Hiro Capital invested in the startup’s Series A financing, giving Loco a pre-money valuation of about $145 million. The deal was first reported on by TechCrunch.
Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, who previously co-founded content platform Pocket Aces, are the founders of the company, which has raised $51 million to date. Loco was acquired by Pocket Aces in 2018.
For licensing, Loco has partnered with several game publishers, including PUBG Corporation, Activision Blizzard, and Riot Games, securing “first-mover advantage,” as one investor put it.
Users can watch and interact with streamers on the app, as well as support them with virtual goods (read: micro-transactions).
According to sources familiar with the situation, Loco has 5.3 million monthly active users, with 450,000 of them using the service every day. According to the sources, the app is used by about 45,000 gamers.
According to industry estimates, about 100 million Indians play battle royale games every month, compared to 700 million in China.
