Japanese firm invests in GamingMonk

E-sports start-up GamingMonk Entertainment Pvt. Ltd said it has raised $100,000 (Rs 69 lakh) from Japanese firm GameWith, Inc., which owns and operates a game information website.

Ashwin Haryani, Co-founder, GamingMonk, said in a statement: “The Indian gaming industry is still at the infancy stage and needs the expertise of stalwarts like GameWith to flourish at its best and with this partnership we are very hopeful to change the experience of our gamers as well the perceptions of non-gamers.”

GamingMonk was founded by Amity University graduates Abhay Sharma and Haryani in 2014. It started out as an e-commerce marketplace for consoles, gaming titles and other accessories, and later pivoted to become an organiser of e-sports events.

The firm organises online and offline e-sports events. Offline tournaments are held across eight cities and the company plans to expand coverage to 16 cities this year.

A clutch of other investors including Stellaris Venture Partners, Smile Group, and AdvantEdge also participated in that round. Venture capital firm AdvantEdge had previously invested in GamingMonk in September 2017. GamingMonk claims to have grown its user base by 500 per cent in the last six months.