Zupee, a real-money gaming platform, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Jio Platforms Ltd and completed its Series B funding round for $102 million (760 crore), valuing the startup at $600 million.
According to Dilsher Singh, Founder and CEO of Zupee, the strategic partnership with Jio does not involve equity investment and is based on a revenue-sharing agreement.
“The partnership is a win-win for both parties. Jio gets access to the entire repertoire of our games and we get access to the Jio users. That gives us the huge reach,” he said.
In a separate statement, Zupee said the company has closed its Series B funding round at $102 million. This includes the $30 million it had raised in August last year.
WestCap Group, Tomales Bay Capital, Nepean Capital, AJ Capital, Matrix Partners India, and Orios Venture Partners were among the new and existing investors who contributed to the Series B funding.
Zupee, which is run by Cashgrail Pvt Ltd, plans to use the new funds to develop new products, improve immersive design experiences, expand into new geographies, ramp up marketing, and hire new employees.
Zupee, founded by Singh and Siddhant Saurabh in May 2018, provides skill-building games. Trivia quiz tournaments are part of its portfolio. In 2019, it received a seed round of funding from Smile Group.
It had just over 1 million downloads at the time, but it now has over 70 million downloads in India, and the new capital raise will help it significantly expand its reach, according to the company.
In recent years, there has been a surge in investor interest in the gaming industry. Mobile Premier League (MPL) raised Series E funding last year at a pre-money valuation of $2.3 billion (16,935 crore), propelling the fantasy gaming platform into the unicorn club of startups with a valuation of at least $1 billion.
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