AFK Gaming Pvt Ltd, an e-sports news and media company, has raised $200,000 (Rs 1.5 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round.
The Mumbai-based company has raised this capital from angel and early-stage investment platform Inflection Point (IP) Ventures.
This marks the latest startup bet by IP Ventures, which has made at least 13 commitments since March, when the nationwide lockdown caused by Covid-19 began.
AFK Gaming was set up by Nishant Patel, Rakesh Ramchandran and Siddharth Nayar in 2012.
The platform functions claims to be registering over 15 million monthly impressions across web, video, and social media.
It will use the capital it has raised to link its audience reach to revenue goals through measures such as programmatic and direct advertising. It will also expand its coverage focus to e-sports titles across Southeast Asia.
“We believe the emergence of e-sports will see an accelerated acceptance in India. Just like healthcare and education, tech will also disrupt many high-ticket sports properties and we believe AFK Gaming is poised well to leverage this opportunity,” IP Ventures founder and chief executive officer Vinay Bansal said.
AFK Gaming says it has a 15-member team across verticals such as content, technology and marketing, and that it is also backed by NODWIN Gaming, which in turn counts Nazara Technologies as a majority investor.
The investment by IP Ventures underscores fast-growing investor interest in gaming.
In the fantasy gaming space, companies such as Dream11 and HalaPlay have raised cheques from the likes of Tiger Global, TPG, and Delta Corp Ltd.
Last month, New Delhi-based Lumikai said it had floated and hit the first close of an early-stage fund to back local gaming and interactive media companies.
In July, mobile game development studio Firescore Interactive Pvt Ltd raised $500,000 in a funding round led by multinational studio and publisher CrazyLabs.
IP Ventures was founded in 2017 as a by-invitation-only network. The initiative makes most of its bets at early-stage to pre-Series A stages.
Last month, it invested $1 million (around Rs 7.41 crore) in Crofarm Agriproducts Pvt Ltd, which operates ventures including social commerce-focussed Otipy.
Also in August, the firm invested an undisclosed sum in Eden Smart Homes LLP, which operates an IoT-based startup focussed on home automation solutions.
In July, it invested $200,000 (around Rs 1.5 crore) in Wellcure Infotech Pvt Ltd, a health-technology platform founded by Nearbuy co-founder Sumeet Kapur.
It does make some bets beyond the pre-Series A stage as well. In June, for example, it led a $5.5 million (around Rs 42 crore) funding round in hyperlocal grocery delivery startup Milkbasket.