Exclusive: South Korean VC firm Hashed leads $15 Mn round in GetMega

Skill-based real-money gaming startup GetMega has raised $15 million in its Series B round from Nexus Ventures, Accel India and Hashed Venture Fund. The Bengaluru-based startup had earlier raised $9 million from Nexus Ventures and Accel India in its angel and Series A round.

Breakup of Series B, current valuation and shareholding

According to GetMega’s regulatory filings, the company has raised Rs 113 crore or $15 million in May, June and September in which new investor Hashed Venture has put in Rs 51.35 crore or $7 million while Nexus and Accel have invested $4 million each in two tranches respectively.

Hashed is a South Korean venture capital firm that had earlier led a $3 million Series A round in social audio platform Headfone in January this year.

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, GetMega has raised fresh funds at a valuation of Rs 550 crore or close to $75 million. This is a three-fold jump in the company’s valuation which was valued at around $25 million during its Series A.

Following the allotment of fresh shares, founders Mayank Kumar and Lokesh Jangid’s collective stake in the company has been reduced to 42.02%. Accel has emerged as the largest stakeholder among investors, controlling 23.62% followed by Nexus and Hashed who have 19.62% and 9.28% stake respectively.

Serial entrepreneurs

GetMega was launched in early 2018 by Kumar and Jangid. The duo had previously founded last-mile delivery startup Opinio, which was acquired by health and fitness startup Curefit in 2017. Curefit itself was acquired by Tata Digital in June this year. 

GetMega offers skill-based games across cards, casual and trivia categories. Positioned as a social gaming platform, GetMega counts on other social and messaging platforms like YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram for distribution.

As of March, the Android-only app had 5 million registered users on the platform and according to an ET report, the startup aspires to have 50 million users by the end of the year.

Real money-gaming startups in India

The real money gaming segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40% from 2020−22 in India which has been dominated by large funded players including Dream11, MPL, Nazara Technologies and WinZo Games. 

Dream11 has emerged as the largest funded startup in this space and according to Entrackr’s sources, it is in talks to raise a new round at around $8 billion valuation. MPL is also in the process of raising another round that will push the company into unicorn territory. 

WinZo Games and Zupee also closed their funding rounds recently.

It’s worth noting that participating in games of skill competitions for cash prizes is legal in India, except in the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Telangana, Sikkim, Odisha and Kerala.