E-sports gaming platform Gamerji raises $1.1 M in Pre Series A

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.

Founded in 2019 by gaming expert and serial entrepreneur Soham Thacker, GamerJi is an Indian Esports tournament platform. The users can play tournaments of their favorite games, host matches, communicate, share content & win prizes. 

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, the company has merged procedures such as registrations, player management and payments, making it a one-stop platform for Esports tournaments.

An increasing number of young video gamers 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 over 5 Million users from India while also expanding its tournament services in MENA & SEA in 2022.

Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, 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.”

Soham Thacker, Founder & CEO, Gamerji, 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 & 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 & grow the community. We are glad to receive constant support from Unicorn India Ventures along with our other investors”.

Valay Patel, CTO, Gamerji: “In the past 12 months, we have added 1.7 Million users, conducted 21k+ tournaments, launched tournaments IPs in Gamerji Community Challenge & 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 7 to 8 million users along with expanding the platform to other strategic territories”.

Gamerji launched its new version in Nov 2021 with exciting features like enhanced profile, gaming stats, community creation, Esports content & 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 growing gaming possibilities and aims to position India as a global leader in Esports. 

This shows massive potential for the gaming industry to grow in India, and Gamerji aims to be the market leader in this segment.

About Unicorn India Ventures

Unicorn India Ventures is a Mumbai-based early-stage fund house started in 2015 by Anil Joshi and Bhaskar Majumdar. The Fund has also launched a UK India cross border fund for funding UK startups looking to enter India. 

From its first Fund, UIV has invested in 18 companies like Inc42, Sequretek, Pharmarack, Genrobotics, NeuroEquilibrium, SmartCoin, Open Bank, Open app to name a few. 

Unicorn India has also announced Fund II, which is a Rs 300 crore fund launched in 2019 which has invested in 17 companies so far.

About Gamerji

Gamerji is an online Esports platform for gamers to compete, communicate, share content, host matches, build their gaming profile, & win exciting prizes. 

The platform launched in 2019 is currently serving over 2.3M gamers from India and has conducted more than 29K tournaments till date. 

The company plans to be the first step for all aspiring gamers to start their Esports journey by organizing tournaments for more than 15 titles.