Zupee raises USD 8 mn funding from Matrix Partners, others

Skill-based gaming company Zupee on Wednesday said it has raised USD 8 million in funding led by Matrix Partners India.

The startup, founded by Dilsher Singh Malhi and Siddhant Saurabh, also saw participation from Falcon Edge Capital, WestCap Group, Orios Venture Partners and Zupee's early stage investor Smile Group in the series A round, a statement said.

The capital raised from this round will be used to invest deeper in technology, staff and marketing, it added.

Zupee runs live quiz tournaments on its app in which users compete with friends and other players for prizes. The app has more than 2,000 live quiz tournaments covering over 100 topics ranging from films, Sports, mathematics, spelling and others.

The online gaming market is growing at 40 per cent annually and is expected to reach USD 14 billion market size by 2025 in India.

"We at Zupee are geared to serve 100 million users and be a leader in skill based gaming in India. We will be using the capital raised from this round to invest deeper in technology, team and marketing," Dilsher Singh Malhi, CEO of Zupee, said. Last year, Zupee had raised USD 1 million in seed funding from Smile Group, which incubated the startup.

The Zupee app is currently available in both English and Hindi and has over 5 million downloads. The app sees over 10 million gameplays every month.