Rooter, a popular gaming platform, has successfully raised $16 million in its latest funding round, with Mumbai-based venture capital firm Lightbox leading the way. The funding round consisted of a combination of equity and debt, and also saw the participation of Trifecta Capital, Pivot Ventures, Baldota Family Office, Global Play Media, Denlow Private Trust, Venture Catalysts, and Potential Ventures.
In addition to the new investors, existing backers such as Duane Park Ventures, LeAD Sports & Health Tech Partners, ADvantage VC, Goal Ventures, Capital A, and Astarc Ventures also contributed to the funding round, showcasing their continued support for the startup.
With the freshly raised capital, Rooter plans to strengthen its technological capabilities, enhance its product offerings, and further improve the user experience on its platform. The company also intends to acquire new businesses in the near future as part of its expansion strategy within the country.
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Founder of Rooter
Rooter was established in 2016 by Piyush Kumar and Dipesh Agarwal and has since become a prominent online esports streaming and content platform. The startup boasts a user base of over 60 million individuals and offers a diverse content library that includes live streams, short-form content, and videos in ten different Indian languages.
Through many funding rounds, Rooter has been successful in raising more than $46 million to date. In its Series A round last year, led by Lightbox, the company secured $25 million. With aspirations to become India’s equivalent of the renowned US-based live streaming platform Twitch, Rooter aims to continue its growth trajectory.
Rooter stands out among a limited number of Indian startups that have managed to secure fresh funds during the challenging funding climate of both 2022 and 2023. Other companies in the market, such as Krafton, FanClash, Loco, and Winzo, compete with the firm.
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Challenges and Contrasts: Gaming Industry Struggles Amidst Projected Growth
While the gaming industry in India is projected to reach a substantial size of $8.6 billion by FY27, as indicated by a Lumikai report, it currently grapples with issues such as layoffs and mounting losses. Earlier this year, gaming unicorn MPL had to let go of over 100 employees and exited the Indonesian market, while FanClash, backed by Sequoia, had to lay off more than 75% of its workforce due to difficulties securing a new funding round.
MPL witnessed a threefold increase in its losses, totaling $149 million in FY22, while generating $65.6 million in revenue from operations. Similarly, Winzo, another gaming platform, reported a net loss of INR 120.5 crore, a 2.3 times surge from FY21, while its revenue from operations also rose by 2.3 times to INR 233.8 crore in FY22.
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