Posted by Mumbai: Game streaming startup Loco has secured Rs 330 crore ($42 million) investment led by Hashed, with participation from Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, and Korea Investment Partners.
Loco’s seed fund investors including Krafton, Lumikai, and Hiro Capital also participated in this Series A funding round.
The fresh funding will help Loco to strengthen its position in the-game streaming space and further speed up its streaming technology and content initiatives. Moreover, Loco will continue investing in the development of the gaming ecosystem and nurturing the gaming community in India.
The ‘Made in India’ platform is home to India’s most popular streamers such as Sc0ut, Mavi, Godlike’s Jonathan, Villager Esports, 8Bit-Thug, Ghatak, Kaztro Gaming, Eagle GamingOP, S8ulSid, Clutchgod, Kaashvi, Xyaa, Rakazone, Rawknee, and Ankkita.
The gaming startup has built highly engaged communities across various games including BGMI, Call of Duty Mobile, Clash of Clans, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), and Valorant.
The game streaming platform has built a direct API integration with Krafton, enabling the two companies to reimagine play and watch journeys for fans. It is also in the process of building in-game integrations with other international partners.
In addition to these partnerships, Loco has teamed up with global giants like the NBA, Logitech, and Red Bull to run India-focused esports programs.
Loco has grown rapidly over the last year. Its daily active viewers increased by 15x, while monthly active viewers scaled by 8x. Likewise, the monthly active streamers grew by 5x, and live watch hours jumped 78x since Jan 2021. Today, highly active users spend on an average more than 1 hour daily on Loco.
“We started Loco with a mission to democratize gaming and this investment will help us make significant progress towards our end goal. Today, we are the platform where gamers go from being newbies to becoming gaming superstars,” said Loco’s Founder Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh.
“Loco is actively transforming the entertainment experience for Indian users and we are excited about the new investors joining us in building the future of entertainment,” the duo added.
“We are thrilled to partner with Loco as their lead Series A investor. Loco is the leader in game streaming in India and has the country’s most engaged community of gamers on its platform,” said Ethan Kim, Co-founder and Partner – Hashed.
“We believe this new investment round will enable Loco to solidify its dominant position in game streaming and eventually provide the Indian gaming community with cutting edge Web3 products and services,” added Kim.