Canadian gaming start-up to launch India operations

Play It Interactive, a Canada-based mobile gaming start-up, will invest $1.1 million (Rs.6.6 crore) to drive its business and product development in India.

"This round of financing will allow Play It Interactive to build on opportunities in India and surrounding countries," said Cory Cleveland, president and co-founder of Play It Interactive

"We are excited about our traction and early success in the Indian market," Cleveland noted.

Play It Interactive that delivers a connected gaming experience to both users on feature phones and Android devices will open its head office in Mumbai and recruit local talent to enhance and localise its product offering, as well as manage local partnerships, a company statement said.

The mobile content platform first piloted its engagement platform for an Indian audience via a Fantasy Football app, to coincide with the FIFA World Cup.

"During the event (FIFA World Cup) Play It saw over 500,000 users, with an average user session time of over 14 minutes. These early indications point to tremendous engagement potential of our platform in the Indian market," Ray Newal, international head of the start-up noted.

Newal had earlier founded Jigsee, a bandwidth efficient mobile streaming platform for media companies in the Indian market.

"Play It is designed to engage a wide audience of sports fans in India by enabling immersive experiences, that are accessible to mobile subscribers at the lowest price point possible," Newal added.