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WinZO Games partners with Kalaari to launch Gaming Lab

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Social gaming platform WinZO on Monday said it has partnered with Kalaari Capital to launch an investment initiative Gaming Lab to encourage and support the gaming ecosystem in the country, reported the Deccan Herald. The Gaming Lab will invest up to $1 million in each of the investee companies across all forms of interactive apps in India.

Kalaari is one of the early backers of WinZo having participated in Series A funding round along with Hike. Hike exited the company in May 2021. The social gaming platform along with its founders has recently filed a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the decades-old Odisha Gambling Act, 1955. Paavan Nanda, the co-founder is one of the petitioners before the Karnataka High Court challenging the recent gaming ban law.

The Gaming Lab initiative will be launched during GameCon 2021 scheduled this month. Association with WinZO will further help gaming studios and companies to be culturally relevant for Bharat, a statement from the company said. This initiative is separate from the $20 million fund set up by WinZo for the Indian game developer ecosystem.

The social gaming company will also mentor the investee gaming companies working towards revolutionizing the gaming ecosystem through video streaming, game tech, and innovations, a statement from the company said. The selected companies will receive support and drive effective monetization, growth and also benefit from the tech expertise that WinZO has to offer, it added.

Also read: Is Winzo offering “Roulette” as “Spin Science”?

We are looking to invest across all forms of interactive entertainment, including but not limited to games and ancillary industries such as content creation, live-ops, security, etc. We are placed in a strategically sound position owing to our understanding of tech, the real pulse of India that is at the centre of online gaming evolution that we as a nation are witnessing,” WinZO co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore was quoted in media reports.

Rathore further quoted that these capabilities combined, the organizations will be able to sufficiently provide requisite support in the form of capital, guidance, and strategic help to further this socioeconomically critical ecosystem. “WinZO’s Centre of Excellence will help drive growth, strategy, and distribution for the selected applicant while driving monetization in the world’s largest engagement powerhouse,” she said. In July 2021, WinZO has raised $65 million in a Series C funding round, led by California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, taking the total tally of capital raised by the company to $90 million.

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