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Studio Sirah, a next-gen sport studio that builds distinctive Indian-themed video games and has raised $2.6Mn in Pre-Collection A spherical led by Kalaari Capital and Lumikai
Studio Sirah, a next-gen sport studio that builds distinctive Indian-themed video games, introduced at this time that it raised $2.6 million in a Pre-series A spherical led by Kalaari Capital (an early-stage, technology-focused VC agency), and its seed investor, Lumikai (India’s pioneering gaming and interactive media centered VC fund). The corporate plans to utilise the funds to globally launch its flagship gaming title, Kurukshetra: Ascension, by June 2023. As well as, the funds will even assist to construct out their second title, which is able to go even additional by way of ambition and scope.
Kurukshetra: Ascension is a free-to-play card battler, themed on India’s two nice epics – the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Gamers don the roles of historic legends akin to Arjuna and Sugriva, gather divine Astras and legendary creatures (from Apsaras to Daityas), and battle it out to the highest in thrilling on-line duels. The studio is now including in an expansive story mode (Ascension) – a grand story of warring gods, conflicting philosophy, and the character of Dharma itself, the place participant selections decide the destiny of the universe.
Expressing his views on the fundraising, Abhaas Shah, Co-founder & CEO, of Studio Sirah stated, “Over the past yr, now we have labored arduous to construct a mid-core gaming studio from scratch, and launched a sport which has each cultural resonance and world high quality. The response has been superb, each in India and overseas, and it’s evident that there’s a big (and rising) marketplace for uniquely Indian content material. We’re deeply grateful to Kalaari for becoming a member of us on this journey, and to Lumikai, for believing in our imaginative and prescient from the very starting. Over the approaching a long time, we hope to not solely entertain Indian avid gamers, however to take a slice of India to the world at giant.”
With over 120K natural s in beta, Kurukshetra-Ascension is on the market in early entry on Play Retailer and Steam. A devoted follower base on Instagram and a close-knit Discord neighborhood that has helped construct and take a look at the sport from its MVP days reveals a rising urge for food for India-based gaming content material. Their present consumer base is deeply engaged, with a DAU/ MAU ratio exceeding 20% and common session occasions of over 25 min.
Gamers don the roles of historic legends akin to Arjuna and Sugriva, gather divine Astras and legendary creatures (from Apsaras to Daityas), and battle it out to the highest in thrilling on-line duels.
Trailer: https://t.co/iNCnzJde3B
— Lumikai (@Lumikai) January 25, 2023
Commenting on the funding Vamshi Krishna Reddy, Companion at Kalaari Capital
stated, “The Midcore style like CCGs has achieved effectively globally, together with China and Japan – however is severely under-penetrated within the Indian market. There’s immense potential for extra core IPs to return out of India. After we first met Abhaas and Prateek, we had been in awe of the fervour with which they had been constructing Kurukshetra and noticed a transparent whitespace. With stellar art work and revolutionary gameplay – Kurukshetra has already garnered quite a lot of appreciation from customers and we’re excited with what lies forward.”
Commenting on the funding Justin Shriram Keeling, Founding Common Companion, Lumikai stated, “We’re immensely happy with Abhaas and Prateek for constructing such a top quality midcore sport studio during the last yr. Kurukshetra Ascension has been lighting up the neighborhood and is extensively anticipated forward of its full launch subsequent quarter. Our just lately printed ‘India State of Gaming 2022 survey signifies that 80% of gamers have a powerful tendency to play video games with Indian IP., and we imagine that video games with culturally resonsant themes have the potential to considerably disrupt the Indian gaming market – particularly within the midcore class. We’re excited to see Studio Sirah evolve to the following stage of their imaginative and prescient to create world-class IPs with culturally resonant content material.”
This Studio Sirah developed Kurukshetra: Ascension is the primary title from a staff of two brothers, Abhaas Shah and Prateek Shah, avid avid gamers with robust technical backgrounds. They goal to construct a brand new white house within the gaming business with their wealthy Indian-themed IPs which can be gaining big recognition throughout the globe. Previous to this, Studio Sirah had raised $830,000 in September 2021 in its Seed spherical led by Lumikai and a pool of famend angels akin to Akshat Rathee (founder, Nodwin Video games), Alexis Bonte (chief working officer, Stillfront Video games), Piyush Shah (cofounder, Inmobi), Roshni Rathi (accomplice, BCG), and Sameer Pitalwalla (Head Of Gaming, Google Cloud).
