Fintech startup Optimo Loan and gaming studio Liquidnitro Games secured early-stage funding, the companies said on Wednesday.
Optimo Loan has secured $10 million (Rs 83 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by Blume Ventures and Omnivore. The round also saw an infusion from founder Prashant Pitti.
The startup aims to use the acquired funds to expand its operations, improve its technology stack, recruit new talent and broaden presence to twenty locations in rural India by the end of this year.
Optimo Loan is a micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)-focussed lending platform that aims to help businesses in investing in new technologies, increase liquidity and ensure business continuity. The Bengaluru-based startup works with MSMEs operating in rural India.
Before Optimo Loan, Pitti also co-founded the listed traveltech platform EaseMyTrip.
"Optimo's lending operations commenced in November 2023, and we are scaling swiftly yet prudently. We aim to establish an asset-light company by primarily using co-lending agreements with banks and larger NBFCs," said Pitti, founder, Optimo Loan.
Liquidnitro Games has raised $5.25 million (Rs 44 crore) in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from undisclosed angel investors of the gaming industry from the US, Canada, EU and India.
The funds will be used to build their studio, make artificial intelligence (AI) and technology investments to boost production pipelines and offer live services capabilities at scale.
The startup was founded in December 2023 by former Electronic Arts executives Sandeep Kowdley, Krishna Dhanekula, Arun Kunchala and Suresh Manthena.
It is a game studio that provides expertise in game live services, running end-to-end live services for increased profitability and sustained growth, geo-adapting games and live services for new untapped markets and translating ideas and IPs to profitable game launches through prototyping, market testing, iteration and full production along with co-producing games and live services.
