Indian game streaming platform Loco raises $42 million from Hashed, Makers Fund – TechCrunch

Indian game streaming startup Loco said on Thursday it has raised $42 million as it looks to build, per its conversations with investors, “Twitch for India.”

Hashed, Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, Krafton, Lumikai, Korea Investment Partners and Hiro Capital invested in the startup’s Series A financing, which gives Loco a pre-money valuation of about $145 million, according to two sources familiar with the matter. TechCrunch earlier reported about the deal.

The startup — founded by Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, who previously co-founded content platform Pocket Aces — has raised about $51 million to date.

Loco is attempting to build Twitch for India, the startup has told its investors. It has partnered with several game publishers including PUBG Corporation, Activision-Blizzard, Riot Games for licensing, securing what an investor described as “first mover advantage.”

On its app, users watch and interact with streamers and support them with virtual goods (read: micro-transactions).

It has amassed 5.3 million monthly active users, 450,000 of whom use the service each day, according to sources familiar with the matter. About 45,000 gamers stream on Loco, the sources said.

“YouTube offers a leading signal for this gaming content demand, but its product is not built for the game streaming market,” the startup says in its investor deck. Users on the platform were spending as much as 27 minutes each day, as of October 2021, Loco said in a slide.

According to industry estimations, there are about 100 million users in India who play battle royale games each month, compared to China’s 700 million. “While demand is continuing to grow, gaming community and content supply have not been built by any platform in India,” Loco said in its investor deck.

“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, cofounder and Partner at Hashed, in a statement.

“Users between the ages of 10 and 30 form the bedrock of gaming and esports communities worldwide and India is one of the most interesting global gaming markets, with 40% of its population belonging to this cohort. 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.”