New Delhi: Avocore Technologies Pvt. Ltd. which runs Qlan, a social networking app designed for gamers, has secured a pre-seed round of $200,000. The company said it will use the funds to expand gamer networking, discovery, and content creation capabilities. Its investors include Marwah Sports, CIIE.CO, and Faad Network in the funding round.
The company is small, though. It has had about 1 lakh combined downloads, since its launch in January 2023. It claims to have a user base of about 50,000 gamers. It focuses on the Indian subcontinent, central and southeast Asia, Europe, North & South America, South Africa, and the MENA regions.
Sagar Nair, co-founder and CEO of the company said, “The pre-seed funding round signifies an exciting new phase for us, and we are delighted to have them as backers.”
Marwah Sports, the sports arm of Marwah group, has backed other ventures like manufacturing companies Square Off and Elevar, and sports-tech companies Uactiv and Sporjo.
“Meaningful and engaged communities will form the bedrock of the fledgling Indian and global gaming ecosystem. With this app, individuals and organisations can focus on what is most important – retention and engagement,“ said Pranav Marwah, director of Marwah group.
CIIE.CO is the Innovation Continuum spreading from incubation, acceleration, seed, and growth funding to research. CIIE.CO has accelerated over 1000 entrepreneurs and startups, funded in over 300 startups, mentored, and coached over 5000 startups
“Esports in India is witnessing “green shoots” of tailwinds. With the government priming up with recognition, regulatory frameworks should follow suit. Parallelly there is a sharp rise in esports athletes, teams, events, sponsors turning to franchises etc. There will be a need to bridge these facets with a community driven solution and enable growth. This is where they fit in and would be ripe to tap into what we feel is a sunrise sector in India today,” added Chintan Antani, vice president, seed investing, CIIE.CO.
“India has over 400 million online gamers, with a total market size of over $4 billion. Not only do 90% of these gamers transact, but they also maintain an active social profile to connect with other gamers. This is where we found a fit in Qlan, which is building a comprehensive solution to join gamers and esports enthusiasts. The stellar team understands these gamers‘ space and pulse and will drive home a scalable business,“ added Aditya Arora, CEO, Faad Network Limited.
According to SkyQuest Technology, the global esports market was valued at $1.08 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach a value of $2.8 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 14.50% over the forecast period (2022-2028).
Esports is becoming increasingly popular as a result of global digitization and the low cost of advanced gaming technologies.
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Updated: 28 Jun 2023, 03:08 PM IST