Driffle, a digital gaming marketplace, has raised $3.4 million (around Rs 27.8 crore) in a seed round led by Beenext.
The round also saw participation from Jafco Asia, Taurus Ventures, Better Capital, White Venture Capital and renowned angel investors like Kunal Shah, Maninder Gulati, Amit Damani, Archana Priyadarshani and Arun Venkatachalam.
Founded in 2021 by Chetan Bhardwaj, Gaurav Kumar Jha, Mayank Chawla, and Abhishek Kumar, Driffle aim to make online gaming accessible, affordable and safer for gamers globally. The platform sells games, digital gift cards and gaming points for gamers.
With operations in India, US and UK, Driffle is looking to add more people across product, engineering, marketing, and customer support in Gurugram to cater to its growth. The team will invest the funds in hiring, strengthening its tech infrastructure and product development.
Headquartered in Delaware and Bengaluru, Driffle is currently available in over 100 countries in Southeast Asia and Europe and accepts over 100 different currencies.
"Being a team of gaming enthusiasts, we thoroughly understand the existing gaps in such marketplaces. At Driffle, we enable instant delivery of our goods digitally, with simplified payment processes, overcoming the complications of payment fraud and cross-border distribution,” Chetan Bhardwaj, Co-founder and chief executive officer, Driffle.
The Indian gaming industry is in the process to raising $513 million by the end of this calendar year. The sector has witnessed a funding jump of 380% from 2019 and by 23% from 2020, gaming-focused venture firm Lumikai said in its report, State of India Gaming FY22.
The report surveyed 2,240 respondents, third-party data providers, industry leaders and Lumikai’s proprietary insights, further highlights that Web3 has emerged as the most popular technology in games with 30% of 450 Indian Web3 firms operating in gaming. The space has secured $400 million in 2019-22.
"Being a startup built by avid gamers, the Driffle team has identified a significant whitespace within the gaming industry. With their deep passion for problem-solving, the team is addressing customer experience, for buying digital goods, which has not been worked upon so far. Driffle offers the industry-demanded revamp and better customer experience for buyers and sellers internationally through their truly global model of business,” said Anirudh Garg, investor, Beenext.
