Game streaming platform Loco has raised Rs 330 crores ($42 Million) investment led by Hashed, with participation from Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, and Korea Investment Partners. All the investors from the company’s seed round including Krafton, Lumikai, and Hiro Capital also participated in this round. The fresh funds will further accelerate the company’s streaming technology and content initiatives. With its new fundraise, Loco will continue investing in the development of the Indian gaming ecosystem and nurturing the Indian gaming community.
Loco is enabling gamers to find their own gaming clan – supporting streamers they love in a community, Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, founders, Loco, said. “We started Loco with a mission to democratise gaming and this investment will help us make significant progress towards our end goal. Today, we are the platform where gamers go from being newbies to becoming gaming superstars. Loco is actively transforming the entertainment experience for Indian users,” they added.
Loco is home to streamers such as Sc0ut, Mavi, Godlike’s Jonathan, Villager Esports, 8Bit-Thug, Ghatak, Kaztro Gaming, Eagle GamingOP, S8ulSid, Clutchgod, Kaashvi, Xyaa, Rakazone, Rawknee, and Ankkita. Loco has built highly engaged communities across various games including BGMI, Call of Duty Mobile, Clash of Clans, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), and Valorant. The platform houses has hosted the country’s largest tournaments in partnership with global publishers like Krafton, Activision, Ubisoft, and Riot Games. Loco has built a direct API integration with Krafton, enabling the two companies to reimagine play and watch journeys for fans. The company is also in the process of building in-game integrations with other international partners. In addition to these partnerships, Loco has teamed up with global giants like the NBA, Logitech, and Red Bull to run India-focused esports programs.
Over the last year, Loco claims to have seen a 15x growth in daily active viewers, while monthly active viewers rose by 8x. Monthly active streamers on Loco rose by 5x, and live watch hours increased by 78x since Jan 2021. Loco offers a slew of interactive features that are not available on other VOD-first platforms.
According to Ethan Kim, Co-founder and Partner, Hashed, Loco is the leader in game streaming in India and has the country’s most engaged community of gamers on its platform. “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,” Kim highlighted.
The company believes that gaming will define the customer entertainment experience over the next decade. Powered by 5G, gaming will make entertainment more immersive, providing users with immensely enjoyable social experiences in virtual worlds. In addition, Web3 will transform the nature of ownership of virtual goods, allowing fans to participate in the entertainment process in a more meaningful manner than has ever been possible before. With these tailwinds driving consumer behavior, Loco wants to build the social experience platform for the virtual world, serving the 700 million+ Indians who will experience these virtual worlds in the coming years.
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