- Name of the Company: LightFury Games
- Industry: Gaming
- Funding Amount: $8.5 million
- Funding Date: Not specified
- Dilution Percentage: Not specified
- Date of Inception: Not specified
- Details about the Founder(s): Founded by Karan Shroff, Anurag Banerjee, and Tina Balachandran.
Gaming startup LightFury Games has raised $8.5 million in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures, Mixi Inc, and Gemba Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Cred founder Kunal Shah and Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal.
The freshly raised funds will be used to develop AAA games in India. Initially, the firm will focus on mobile gaming before expanding to other platforms, including consoles. Launched by Karan Shroff, former chief marketing officer of Unacademy, along with Anurag Banerjee, who also serves as its chief product and technology officer, and Tina Balachandran, previously senior vice president at Unacademy, LightFury Games aims to establish game studios in India and the UK while recruiting top talent.
Speaking about the development, Karan Shroff, Co-founder of LightFury Games, said, “Creating successful AAA titles in the Indian market and establishing a Tencent-like presence originating from India, is what we are excited to bring to the fore.”
Commenting on the development, Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing partner of Blume Ventures, said, “The ability to piece together the talent and bring in believers from the gaming and consumer universe make it one of the most exciting investments we’ve made in this space.”
The startup aims to develop AAA games in India, characterized by high budgets, top-quality graphics, and major publishers. These games feature advanced gameplay mechanics, extensive content, and robust marketing campaigns. AAA games are typically released across multiple platforms, including personal computers, consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox, and sometimes mobile devices.
A recent report titled ‘Robust Fundamentals to Power Continued Growth’ highlighted India as the largest gaming market in the world. In 2023, India’s gaming market reached new heights with a user base of 568 million gamers and over 9.5 billion app downloads, representing about 20% of the global total for mobile game downloads. This surpasses the combined download totals of the next two markets: the United States and Brazil.