LightFury Games Raises USD 8.5 Mn Funding from Blume Ventures, Mixi, and Gemba Capital Utilising the money, the startup intends to hire people in India and the UK to build AAA games, which are usually high-profile, high-budget projects.

Gaming startup LightFury Games has announced the raising of USD 8.5 million in a seed round from Blume Ventures, Mixi Inc, and Gemba Capital.

The fundraising round also included participation from angel investors Kunal Shah and Gaurav Munjal.

As per the official release, the raised funds will be used to build AAA titles with an initial focus on mobile games and later expand to other platforms, including consoles. AAA games are titles that typically have big budgets for both development and marketing purposes.

Additionally, the money raised will be used to open gaming studios in the UK and India and to employ top talent for these locations.

"Creating successful AAA titles in the Indian market and establishing a Tencent-like presence originating from India, is what we are excited to bring to the fore," said Karan Shroff, Co-founder of LightFury Games.

"It would necessitate building the finest expertise and leveraging state-of-the-art technological innovations to ensure top-tier gameplay quality," added Shroff, who was earlier the Chief Marketing Officer and Partner at Unacademy.

Tana Balachandran, a former senior vice president at Unacademy, Anurag Banerjee, who also serves as the company's chief product and technology officer, and Shroff cofounded LightFury.

In September 2022, Shroff left Unacademy following a three-year tenure with the edtech unicorn. Prior to this, he spent more than four years leading Xiaomi India's brand marketing.

"The ability to piece together the talent and bring in believers from the gaming and consumer universe makes it one of our most exciting investments we've made in this space," said Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Director at Blume Ventures.