Dacby, an app-based intelligent digital e-commerce platform for gamers, has recently received funding of Rs 1.2 crore from Ratanada Ventures and India Accelerator. Ratanada Ventures is a capitalist firm that provides pre-seed and seed investments to startups. India Accelerator is a seed-stage accelerator program that supports startup ventures and helps them transform their ideas into a reality. Dacby has received pre-seed funding from both the investment firms and has now become a $2 million enterprise in less than one year.
Dacby’s business model is very simple; it buys and sells items related to gaming, from consoles and PC hardware, to mobile in-game items. There lies a highly intelligent hard core technology beneath this simple business model, which identifies the likes and needs of each and every user, and provides products accordingly while also ensuring inventory is recycled as quickly as possible. In addition, Dacby offers a highly regulated digital marketplace for gamers to buy and sell their digital products. As a gaming company, Dacby plans to operate in four segments: consoles, gaming PC hardware, gaming laptops and phones, and digital in-game items for mobile devices.
The funding will be utilised at expanding the firm’s footprints in the console and PC gaming market. Along with this, a significant portion of the capital will be leveraged to develop its blockchain-based marketplace for in game items trading in mobile games. The funding will be used primarily for the development of its verticals whilst making sure every decision aligns with its current vision and business model.
Sharing her elation on receiving the funding, Dacby founder and CTO Bhawna Chaudhary said, “The support of investors is greatly appreciated in spite of this funding winter. This investment’s success can be attributed to the company’s strong unit economics and financial stability. Since day one, we have been profitable, and this investment will take us to new levels of success.”
Speaking of this association, Ratanada Ventures’ Vikas Batra said, ”We like the work DACBY is doing in the space and feel we can add a lot of value not just by investing but also by augmenting the team with our web3 resources and expertise.”
Dacby was incepted by three undergraduate CSE students from IIT J Indian Institute of Technology CSE on 17 June 2021 last year. The entrepreneurs, Bhawna, Ayush Singh, and Chinmay Wahi had dropped out of the reputed institute to pursue their dream of entrepreneurship. They are second-time entrepreneurs. The first business that they started together was at the age of 18 before the pandemic. They scaled a zero wait dining software to over 50 restaurants in Bengaluru. However, the business suffered due to Covid. Owing to the government imposed lockdown and social distancing norms; restaurants were closed for more than eight months. As a result, their venture suffered a lot of cash burn. Later on, the entrepreneurs came up with the idea for Dacby. They were merely 19 and 20 years of age when they started the firm in 2021 with a one-time initial investment of Rs 60,000 for the venture.
The founders’ vision is to become the largest gaming ecommerce brand in the world. Under their leadership, the gaming platform has witnessed significant growth in even less than a year.
Dacby believes in taking small steps towards the improvement of the lifestyle of gamers that will eventually lead to a huge transformation in the Indian gaming market in the times to come. It has already reached the 50,000 users mark and is now bracing for exponential growth in the times ahead. It plans to operate in four segments in the future- consoles, gaming PC hardware, gaming laptops, and digital in-game items for mobile gaming which is already a $1.5B industry in India.
