Sparskills Technologies Pvt Ltd., the parent company of online poker website 9stacks has become one of the few online gaming companies in India to raise institutional funding, according to a report from Glaws.
The company is said to have raised Rs. 21 crores (US$3 million) in a series A funding round led by early-stage VC firm WaterBridge Ventures.
Commenting on the investment, Manish Kheterpal, managing partner of WaterBridge Ventures noted, “India is at the cusp of massive online gaming adoption with an exponential increase in players and revenue expected in this sector. Real Money Gaming will have a significant wallet share of online due to ubiquitous mobile access, increasing disposable income, convenience, and superior user experience. Having said that, it is an execution heavy space and we, therefore, chose to back a highly professional and accomplished team of founders comprising of Sudhir, Pratik, Abhinav, and Rishab. We are proud to partner with this founding team with great pedigree and a proven track record.”
Confirming the development. Sudhir Kamath, CEO of 9stacks said in a statement, “With WaterBridge Ventures becoming the lead investor in our Series A fundraise, we are delighted to announce that 9stacks is India’s first online poker company to reach this funding milestone. This is a great sign of confidence in the 9stacks team, the systems and processes we’ve put in place, in addition to the rapidly growing market itself. We will use these funds to ramp up user acquisition, data analytics, machine learning, and product & market expansion. We want 9stacks to be the preferred platform for poker in India, especially for new players, where anyone can discover, learn and play poker, any time, anywhere.”
The latest round of funding places 9stacks among one of the few online poker brands to have access to investment from institutional investors.
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