Sequoia-backed Pocket Aces reportedly acquires quiz game app Loco for $1 Mn

Mumbai-based digital entertainment startup Pocket Aces has acquired trivia game show app Loco.

The Sequoia-backed- Pocket Aces did not disclose the quantum of the deal. However, according to a Mint report, the deal is sealed at around $1 million.

In the next 12-18 months, Pocket Aces may invest $3-5 million more the last month founded Loco to expand the company’s offerings in the gaming genre said Co-founder Anirudh Pandita.

Following the investment, Loco's founders Abhishek Madhavan, Chetan Dembre, and Sushil Kumar have joined Pocket Aces but Loco will be run as a separate business unit.

Loco, an Android app is available in Hindi and English. It plans to launch in Telugu, Tamil, and other regional language versions in the coming months. The startup is yet to release its iOS app.

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Since its launch, the mobile app has amassed over 40,000 downloads and claims that over 6,500 concurrent users play the quiz, which is broadcast twice a day, daily. It allows users to log in to play a live quiz game. Winners can get as much as Rs10,000 as credit in their Paytm wallets.

Founded in 2013, Pocket Aces’ three main content channels include Dice Media (premium long-form web series), Filter Copy (short form content) and Gobble (short-form food videos).

It also includes intelligent plug-ins for common headline optimization, based on data analytics from multiple platforms, by granting insights into words, article lengths and so on, which helps writers optimize content for sharing. The format also allows for inline commenting.

Pocket Aces counts Penguin Random House, FreeCharge, Tinder, Swiggy, VelvetCase.com and Little App, among its clients.

The firm had earlier raised $3 million in December 2016 in its Series-A funding round that was led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India and included North Base Media, Aarin Capital, Axilor Ventures, 3one4 Capital and Freecharge founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon.

Last year, Pocket Aces tied up with WebTVAsia to enter Chinese Market. Following the collaboration Pocket Aces will make its content available on Chinese Portal Youku Tudou, which is a Chinese version of Youtube.