Hiro Capital Joins $9 Million in Seed Funding for India’s Loco Game Streaming Service

“This is Hiro’s 15th investment in the last 18 months and our first investment in India. Anirudh and Ashwin are extremely impressive serial tech entrepreneurs and Loco has shown incredible momentum as the emerging home of Indian game streaming. We are also delighted to be investing alongside Krafton, Hashed and Lumikai.” – Luke Alvarez, Founding Partner, Hiro Capital.

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Loco, India’s leading homegrown game streaming platform, today announced that it has secured $9 million for its first round of fundraising as an independent company. The seed round was led by South Korean gaming firm, Krafton, as well as Lumikai, India’s first gaming and interactive media fund. The round also saw participation by Hashed, Hiro Capital, North Base Media, Axilor Ventures, and 3one4 Capital. The new investment will fuel the platform’s innovation efforts across game streaming technology and gaming content, helping it cement its leadership position as the home of Indian gaming. With this raise, Loco will be spun off into an independent entity from its parent, Pocket Aces, India’s largest digital entertainment company. Pocket Aces founders Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh will lead Loco going forward, while co-founder Aditi Shrivastava will continue to lead Pocket Aces.

Loco has been a pioneer in the live game streaming and esports sector in India, paving the way for gaming to go from a niche hobby to a mainstream national interest. The ‘Made in India’ platform is home to India’s most popular streamers such as Sc0ut, Jonathan, Mavi, Thug, Ghatak, Sumit, GTX Preet, Snax, Xyaa, GamingworldVerified, PsychoVerified, Pooja Gaming, HardCore Gamer, and me2Gaming. Loco has built highly engaged communities across various games including FreeFire, Call of Duty Mobile, Clash of Clans, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), and Valorant. The platform houses India’s top esports teams like TSM, IND, 8-bit/Soul, and has hosted the country’s largest tournaments in partnership with global publishers like Activision, Ubisoft, and Riot Games. It is also in the process of building in-game integrations with 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.

Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, Founders of Loco, said “Loco is at the forefront of the game streaming revolution in India. Our platform empowers novice gamers to become household names and has built the foundation for the rise of a new creator economy in India. We are just getting started on our mission to build the home of Indian gaming and we will work relentlessly to make India a global gaming superpower. With this investment, we have been joined on our mission by the pioneers of the global gaming industry. This will enable us to create value for users in ways that no other game streaming platform in India can.”

Loco has grown rapidly over the past 12 months, with monthly active viewers scaling by 6x, monthly active streamers scaling by 10x, and live watch hours scaling by 48x since June 2020. Today, highly active users spend ~1 hour daily on Loco, making it the gaming community’s platform of choice for a seamless streaming and viewing experience. Loco offers a slew of interactive features that other VOD-first platforms don’t offer, and the platform’s focus on mobile gaming communities helps it serve those communities in ways that desktop-focused platforms have not been able to do. Loco also helps beginner creators through various initiatives including its one-click mobile streaming app and best-in-class creator program.

About Loco:

Loco is India’s leading game streaming platform. Dedicated to democratizing gaming entertainment, viewers can enjoy game streaming and esports content created by India’s leading gamers and esports teams. Users can also stream various games themselves. Popular game categories on the platform include FreeFire, Call of Duty Mobile, Valorant, GTA 5 etc. The platform has teamed up with global giants such as Activision, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Red Bull and NBA to host some of India’s largest esports tournaments and programs. Loco is currently available on Android and iOS.

About Hiro Capital:

Hiro Capital is a London / Luxembourg technology Venture Capital fund which invests in UK, US and European innovators in Games, Metaverse Technology, Esports and Digital Fitness. Hiro Capital generally invests at the post-seed Series A and B stages. We invest both in front-end Content creators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in deep tech Metaverse applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies. – https://hiro.capital/

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