Bangalore-based social gaming startup HashCube Technologies Pvt Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Blume Ventures. Sharad Sharma, Rajan Anandan and Hemant Kanakia of IAN invested in the company and Sharma would join the board of HashCube as part of the deal.
HashCube was set up by Deepan Chakravarthy and Ramprasad Rajendran, and has been operational since 2008. The company develops puzzle games for social networking sites and mobile platforms. Some of its successful titles include Sudoku Battle and Sudoku Quest. As of now, the company claims to have over two million users.
“HashCube approached IAN due to its network of investors who understand the social gaming space. The funds will be used for promoting existing games, improving those by adding new features and building a portfolio of new games,” said Chakravarthy.
Karthik Reddy, managing partner of Blume Ventures, said, “We have seen the HashCube team continuously evolve their Sudoku games and other products on social platforms and we believe that they are on the cusp of building great scale for the games in their pipeline.” Blume Ventures is a seed-level fund, backing startups with funding, mentoring and support.
IAN has funded over 35 startups across several sectors, such as IT, mobile, healthcare and education. In 2011, IAN invested over $8 million in 11 startups, making almost a deal a month. It has already invested in seven companies in 2012 (HashCube being the seventh investment) and is looking to close another five investments by the end of this month. Sharma mentioned that IAN’s final investment tally at the end of 2012 could be anywhere between 18 and 24.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
