India’s Esports gaming platform Gamerji has raised $1.1 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Unicorn India Ventures. The round also saw participation from Stadia Ventures, Urmin Group family office and existing investors. Gamerji plans to use the fresh funds to enhance tournament organization technology, build social features for the gamers and expand to MENA and south east Asia.
An increasing number of young video gamers who view competitive gaming as a career opportunity, rather than just a recreational activity. Today, gamers need platforms that can provide them with competitive exposure to help in their Esports journey and hone their skills. Gamerji believes in bridging the gap between amateur to professional level gamers through their tournaments.
Gamerji is currently serving 2.3 million gamers from India and has conducted more than 29K tournaments till date. Since the seed round in Dec 2020, Gamerji has increased its user base by 3X and is conducting more than 200 tournaments every day for more than 15 titles.
The company plans to be the first step for all aspiring gamers to start their Esports journey by organizing tournaments and plans to gain more than five million users from India, while also expanding its tournament services in MENA & SEA in 2022.
Unicorn India Ventures MD Bhaskar Majumdar says, “The gaming industry in India is finally coming of age as the government is setting up the AVGC hub in Bangalore and against the backdrop of metaverse and Web 3.0. ESports is growing the fastest within the overall gaming market. Gamerji has demonstrated this thesis well given their growth numbers. We continue to share the vision of the company and back them as they look to expand to other international geographies.”
Gamerji founder and CEO Soham Thacker says, “At Gamerji, we strive to provide gamers with a platform to begin their Esports journey by participating in daily competitive tournaments, building their stats and stand a chance to make a mark in the gaming world. Esports is still at a very early stage in India and there is a lot of talent that needs to be explored. Gamerji intends to be a platform of choice where gamers can showcase their skills, build their stats and grow the community. We are glad to receive constant support from Unicorn India Ventures along with our other investors”
Gamerji CTO Valay Patel added, “In the past 12 months, we have added 1.7 million users, conducted 21K+ tournaments, launched tournaments IPs in Gamerji Community Challenge and College Gaming league. We will use the fresh funds to improve our product experience with innovations in technology and upgrade the infrastructure to serve the next set of seven to eight million users along with expanding the platform to other strategic territories.”
Gamerji launched its new version in November 2021 with exciting features like enhanced profile, gaming stats, community creation, Esports content and collegiate leagues.
As per a recent report by the All India Gaming Federation in 2020, there were 365 million online gamers in the country, with the number expected to rise to 510 million by 2022, with a corresponding growth of women gamers. GamerJi addresses aspiring gamers in India to provide them with evolving gaming possibilities and aims to position India as a global leader in Esports. This shows a massive potential for the gaming industry to grow in India and Gamerji aims to be the market leader in this segment.
Founded in 2019 by gaming expert and serial entrepreneur Soham Thacker, GamerJi is an Esports tournament platform where users can play tournaments of their favourite games, host matches, communicate, share content and win prizes. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, the company has consolidated procedures such as registrations, player management and payments, making it a one-stop platform for Esports tournaments.
