Hyderabad-based Mojostreet, a location-based mobile gaming start-up, has received a seed funding of $350K from Srini Koppolu, former managing director of Microsoft India Development Center, and J.A. Chowdary, former managing director of Nvidia India. Mojostreet will use the capital infusion to ramp up its hiring efforts and assist in the start-up’s beta launch in early May.
Mojostreet’s first product is a location-based app, which allows its users to check in at various points of interests in a game format. The global comparable of such products are Foursquare, SCVNGR and Booyah’s My Town.
Discussing its expansion plans, founder and CEO Kalyan Manyam has told VCCircle that the company wants to launch Mojostreet in the USA and Singapore shortly after the Indian debut. It currently employs about 10 people and plans to increase the count to 50 by the end of this year. The start-up is now in the product development phase and yet to kick start its revenue generation process. However, the company’s target audience includes smartphone users across the globe.
The start-up has partnered with several major national retail outlets in India to provide real-time offers to complement the virtual gaming experience. As users check in at various locations, they will be awarded virtual currency or ‘Mojo bucks.’ Gamers will be pitted against their friends in a mobile scavenger hunt, unlocking special offers at check-in and stockpiling virtual cash along the way, adds TechCrunch.
Manyam, who has also founded Indyarocks.com – an Indian social network with more than six million users – says that mobile gaming is currently exploding among the 791.38 million mobile users across India. So, in a bid to reach out to more people, Mojostreet will be available on BlackBerry, Nokia, iPhone and Android phones.
“The most interesting part is that our services will bring together e-commerce, m-commerce and real-world commerce,” Manyam adds.
