GamingMonk enabling esports industry, raises fresh funds from Incubate Fund

With organizing more than 200 tournaments with 35000 participants across the country, GamingMonk is spearheading the esports industry in India

GamingMonk, a leading gaming and esports platform has raised Rs 4cr from Japan-based Incubate Fund, Rajan Anandan, VP, Google India & South East Asia and a clutch of other investors including Stellaris Ventures, Smile Group, AdvantEdge and Samir Khurana in the second round of funding.

In the first round, GamingMonk raised an undisclosed amount of funding from early-stage seed investors AdvantEdge in 2017.

The company was founded by Abhay Sharma and Ashwin Haryani in November 2014. Started as an e-commerce marketplace for consoles, gaming titles and other accessories, GamingMonk has pivoted to become a leading online esports company with a focus on building a community and provide authentic and relevant content to gamers.

Commenting on the funding, Abhay Sharma, Co-Founder of GamingMonk said, “India is at the cusp of massive online gaming adoption with an exponential increase in players and funding in this sector. We are focussed on building a top-notch gaming experience for the esports enthusiasts and the community, in which players can thrive, improve their skills and become top competitors at an international level. The new infusion of funds comes at a right time that will help us achieve our vision of providing a smooth, transparent and credible gaming platform for all the players.”

Ashwin Haryani, Co-Founder of GamingMonk said, “We want to focus on not just the enthusiast gamers but also build an ecosystem which brings more casual and semi-pro players on all three platforms — PC, console and mobile gaming. We are seeing a lot of interest from investors and are in discussions with some strategic players both in India and overseas for our next round of funding. A big announcement is expected in the coming few months.”

GamingMonk since its inception has organised more than 200 competitive tournaments across the country with 35000 participants. The platform hosts tournaments on games such as PUBG, CS:GO, DOTA 2, FIFA game series, Call of Duty Series, Clash Royale and many more.

Incubate Fund is a leading seed investor originally from Japan. It has invested in more than 300 start-ups all over Asia, including 10 start-ups in India. Incubate Fund has been known for one of the most active investors in gaming and entertainment space in Japan and many successful exits from its portfolio.

Recognizing the huge potential of the country’s gaming market, Nao Murakami from Incubate Fund said, “Thanks to Jio and other mobile careers, India became one of the cheapest mobile data countries in the world. Also, recently, budget smartphone, especially Chinese ones such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, have decent performance. Because of these two reasons, more Indians are connected to internet 24/7 now and have started enjoying the data-heavy content. We believe this is the dawn of massive growth in the Indian gaming industry. We have done many investments in this industry in Japan and have the good know-how to create fast-growing start-ups. GamingMonk founders have a clear vision to become the largest gamers’ community in India and we are happy to be part of their journey.”