Karan Shroff’s LightFury Games secures $8.5 Million investment in seed round

Delhi: LightFury Games, a gaming company in India, announced the closure of its maiden fundraising round, securing a total investment of USD 8.5 million. The round was led by Blume Ventures and other prominent investors including Mixi, Gemba Capital, and Angels, with participation from individuals such as Kunal Shah, and Gaurav Munjal.

It is founded by Karan Shroff, former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Partner of Unacademy, Anurag Banerjee, gaming industry veteran and Tina Balachandran, former Executive of Unacademy and Tencent Games.

Together, they aim to create high-quality AAA titles with an initial focus on mobile gaming and gradually expand into other gaming platforms including consoles. 

Shroff said, “I am thrilled to be joining hands with bonafide leaders and industry veterans to launch LightFury Games. The size of the gaming market in India is on the rise and it is an excellent time for us to bring our expertise into the industry. We intend to utilize the capital to focus on developing high-quality cutting-edge AAA titles in India, establishing our game studios in both India and in the UK; and hiring top-tier talent in the country to put India on the global map.” 

Shroff further emphasised the significance of creating AAA titles in the Indian market, stating, "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.” He continued, “It would necessitate building the finest expertise and leveraging state-of-the-art technological innovations to ensure top-tier gameplay quality.” 

Banerjee joins as Co-Founder and CPTO, bringing expertise from studios like Ubisoft, Rocksteady Studios, WB Games Montreal and Improbable. Balachandran, previously Senior VP at Unacademy and HR Director at Tencent Games, joins LightFury Games as Co-Founder and Chief People and Operations Officer. 

Karthik Reddy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, said, “We’ve known Karan and his passion towards work since his Unacademy days, we discovered a drive in him for translating this to a AAA gaming studio, thought through from an Indian lens. The ability to piece together the talent and bring in believers from the gaming and consumer universe make it one of our most exciting investments we’ve made in this space.”