Mumbai-based PlayCKC, a startup building live sports gaming platform that caters to a fan’s need to engage during live action, has raised $200,000 in a seed funding round led by Freeflow Venture Builders.
The investors include high net-worth individuals (HNIs) such as Sanjay Nagi and Sharan Parikh, Rajat Singhal, and Harish Menon have joined the round.
The startup said it was initially launched for cricket, where the number of predictions has skyrocketed to more than 9,35,000; the fan-focussed gaming platform plans to bring in live gaming for football during the Football World Cup later this year.
Founded by Swapnil Manish, Anuradha Sinha, and Sanket Khemuka, PlayCKC said it was one of the four startups that were selected in the first sports-tech cohort by India Accelerator and JSW Sports. Both JSW Sports and India Accelerator are strategic partners and own stakes in the startup.
“We, at PlayCKC, are creating a new segment of sports gamers as we strongly believe that sports fans deserve gaming beyond traditional fantasy sports. PlayCKC caters to sports fans’ need to engage during live action. The first round of investors is the most special lot as they show faith in a startup’s belief at a very early stage. It’s such a delight to welcome FreeFlow Ventures and all the other co-investors to this “band of believers”. We will use the funds to achieve a better product-market fit and build and retain our core team,” said Swapnil Manish, co-founder & CEO of PlayCKC.
PlayCKC said it has built distinctive and non-intimidating formats called PREDICT AND SELECT. PREDICT offers a simple MCQ format where a fan gets to make predictions during a match. The questions are generated on the go, based on LIVE data.
Speaking on the investment, Aaquib Hussain, Founding Partner at Freeflow Venture Builders, the Lead investor at PlayCKC, said, “In an age where immersions are key for conversions and platform experience is the key to stickiness, PlayCKC is the closest bet to continual player experience in the most future proof manner possible. Our bets on the founders and the culture are a manifestation of our achieved clarity with their vision, execution, and cumulative abilities. Here’s wishing a people approach of Growth with the needed transparency in the sports gaming space!”
Mona Singh, Co-founder of India Accelerator, said “To promote technology in the Indian sports ecosystem, we partnered with JSW Sports last year and identified PlayCKC as a new-age sports gaming startup in our sports tech cohort.”
Source @Indianstartupnews
