Gaming platform WinZO allocates $5 million to ecosystem development

WinZO, a vernacular social gaming platform in India, has announced Game Developer Fund II of $5 million. The funding is designed to uplift the Indian game developer ecosystem. With Indian gaming engagement growing on the back of COVID-19 pandemic and the ban of Chinese apps such as PUBG, Tiktok, and more, the company has increased its allocation amount to $5 million. This move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atmanirbharta Bharat mission, wherein the company scouts to fund projects in interactive entertainment space.

"We feel excited to announce the launch of Game Developer Fund II. Through this initiative, we are committed to uplift the Indian Gaming Ecosystem, which is at the cusp of disruption. There is infinite talent and creativity and we would like to offer everything else that's required for a team to create a dent in this space and gaming products for the entertainment-starved Bharat. We are not just focusing on gaming projects but also equally keen to evaluate game ops, streaming, esports, etc related proposals. We also ensure a sustainable revenue stream by providing a ready-made market for the selected projects by introducing them to our 25 million-plus registered user base," says Paavan Nanda, Co-founder, WinZO Games.

The company had earlier announced Fund I of $1.5 million in July 2019, which received over 250 applications from large and small developers. Of this, it ended up deploying the capital across nine teams and over 10 games were onboarded on WinZO's platform. Applications for this new round of funding are open till December 31, 2020. The onboarded games from the previous funding range across genres including casual games, board games, battle royales, arcade games, and more. The news comes after the start-up announced its Series-B funding of $18 million, led by global interactive entertainment fund Makers Fund based in Singapore, New York-based Courtside Venture, and Steve Pagliuca, the Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and investor in Epic Games -- developers of the massively popular game, Fortnite.

WinZo partners with third-party game studios to host their games on their Android app. WinZo Games currently offers over 70 skill-based games on its android app in 12 regional languages. The mission for WinZO is to onboard 500-plus new exciting games for its users and bring the best of entertainment for the mobile-first audience. With over 25 million registered users, the platform claims to have been clocking over 1 billion micro-transactions per month.

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