India’s leading game streaming platform Loco announced on 10th March that it has secured an investment of INR 330 crores ($42M USD) led by Hashed, with participation from Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, and Korea Investment Partners. Investors from Loco’s seed round including Krafton, Lumikai, and Hiro Capital, also participated in this Series A round.
Earlier, Loco had raised $9 million USD in its seed round led by Krafton, the distributor of PUBG in India, and Lumikai, a gaming media fund.
The new investment will accelerate Loco’s streaming technology and content initiatives, the company stated in a press release. Loco added that it would continue investing in the development of the Indian gaming ecosystem and nurture the region’s gaming community.
Loco - A ‘Made In India’ platform
Founded by Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, Loco features games like Clash of Clans, FreeFire, Call of Duty Mobile, Valorant, and Grand Theft Auto V, and also hosts top esports teams and tournaments.
Loco (currently available on Android, iOS, and the web) is dedicated to democratizing gaming entertainment according to its release. The company has also partnered with industry giants like Krafton, Activision, Riot Games, Red Bull, NBA 2K League, and Logitech G.
Loco is home to India’s most popular streamers of the likes of Sc0ut, Mavi, Godlike’s Jonathan, Villager Esports, 8Bit-Thug, Ghatak, Kaztro Gaming, Eagle GamingOP, S8ulSid, Clutchgod, Kaashvi, Xyaa, Rakazone, Rawknee, and Ankkita. It also hosts some of India’s most popular and top esports teams like Godlike, XO, Revenant Esports, 8bit, Global Esports, 7Sea esports, Skylightz Gaming, Hyderabad Hydras, and Orangutan Gaming under its platform.
Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh said, “We started Loco with a mission to democratize gaming and this investment will help us make significant progress towards our end goal. Today, we are the platform where gamers go from being newbies to becoming gaming superstars.”
They added that Loco was turbocharging the modern fan experience in esports and is enabling gamers to find their gaming clan and help build a community. “Loco is actively transforming the entertainment experience for Indian users and we are excited about the new investors joining us in building the future of entertainment,” the founders added.
Hashed is the lead Series A investor
Hashed is a global, multi-billion dollar venture fund focused on backing founders pioneering the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency. It is expediting global blockchain adoption through strategic investments and community building and is led by serial entrepreneurs and engineers. Hashed is based in Seoul, San Francisco, Singapore, and Bangalore, and has cultivated industry-defining web3 founders around the globe.
Talking about this investment, Hashed’s Co-founder and Partner Ethan Kim said, “We are thrilled to partner with Loco as their lead Series A investor. We believe this new investment round will enable Loco to solidify its dominant position in game streaming and eventually provide the Indian gaming community with cutting-edge Web3 products and services.”
According to Loco, the platform has grown multifold in the last year. The press release said, “Loco has grown rapidly over the last year, with daily active viewers scaling by 15x, monthly active viewers scaling by 8x, monthly active streamers scaling by 5x, and live watch hours scaling by 78x since Jan 2021.”
Also, Loco is the largest investor in Indian esports content, garnering the lion’s share of Indian esports viewership. The company wants to build “the social experience platform” for the virtual world, serving the “700 million+ Indians who will experience these virtual worlds in the coming years”, added the release.
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