Zupee
{{Infobox company |name=Zupee
Zupee is an online mobile multiplayer competitive skill-based gaming platform that uses incentives and rewards to "engage, empower and entertain" users.[1] Zupee creates mobile games based on popular time-tested games (especially board games) by making them competitive online games of skill.[2] The company was founded in 2018 by two IIT graduates, who created an online multiplayer platform where users can play against other users from around the world to compete in tournaments for monetary rewards.[3][4]
Zupee is one of the leaders in the online skill-based gaming vertical in India,[5] which is fast becoming a popular segment in online gaming as demonstrated by the increased financing in the sector in 2020.[6] According to the company's founder, the company is aiming to onboard 100 million users by the end of 2021.[3][7] The company was valued at over $500 in September, 2021, after raising $30 from WestCap Group and Tomales bay Capital.[8] Zupee was listed by the Hurun Research Institute as an Indian startup, worth at least $200 million, not yet listed on a public exchange and most likely to ‘go Unicorn’ within two years with its founders the youngest in the 39 listed startups.[9][10]
History & Growth[edit]
Zupee was founded in May 2018 by two IIT graduates, Dilsher Singh Malhi and Siddhant Saurabh.[11] It was incubated by Smile Group in November 2018.[12] The user base of the company grew 100 times between 2020 and 2021.[13] The notable growth was a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, which saw an increasing number of people turn to skill-based online games for fair competition and recognition.[14] In India, particularly, where Zupee operates from, online gaming industry saw a major boom in 2020, with the industry expected to add 190 million gamers and become $1 billion opportunity by the end of 2021; it was $290 million in 2017.[15] The other reason for this growth is the increase in digital usage and access to affordable smartphones, with 85% of the gamers using mobile phones for gaming.[16]
Zupee was valued at around $100 million in January, 2021 during its Series A funding & saw a phenomenal growth during the next next months, being valued at over $500 million during the Series B funding in August.[17]
Funding[edit]
Zupee has raised $49 Million in four separate rounds of funding between 2019 and 2021, with the last round of funding coming in from Westcap Group and Tomales Bay Capital.[18] In January 2021, Zupee raised $10 million from the Westcap Group and Matrix Partners India, having previously raised funds from Smile Group, Orios Venture Partners and Falcon Edge Capital.[6] The company raised $1 million from Smile Group in 2019, with the group also incubating the startup.[7]
| Investor | Funding Round | Amount | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smile Group | Seed | $1 Million | 2019 |
| Matrix Partners India | Series A | $ 8 Million | 2020 |
| - Orios Venture Partners | |||
| - Falcon Edge Captial | |||
| Westcap Group | Series A | $ 10 Million | 2021 |
| - Matrix Partners India | |||
| WestCap Group | Series B | $ 30 Million | 2021 |
| Tomales Bay Capital |
Skill-Based Gaming[edit]
Skill-based gaming, as opposed to games of chance, are games where skill is required to win a game or a tournament. It has been indicated that skill-based gaming can improve mental health by providing the excitement of real life sport through fair competition, reward and recognition, while also entertaining the users.[21] As opposed to gambling, where winning money is the motive for participants, in skill-based gaming, the motive is excitement, social interaction and challenge.[22] Skill gaming attracts people that are looking for optimal "challenges, fun and self-involvement".[23]
There has been a growing interest in online skill-based gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic (of 2020), with numerous startups focusing on this growing sector and a number of investors providing the necessary monetary impetus to help the growth.[6][24]
Format[edit]
Zupee develops online multiplayer skill-based games by deconstructing time-tested real life games, such as, ludo, and reengineers them for the mobile phone users.[25] [1] All the games are competitive in nature, which means players can compete against other players to accrue the most points to win the competition. Zupee aims to make language-agnostic games in order reach people in different parts of the country.[26] Players can play one on one games and also enter tournaments to play against multiple players. Zupee Gold, company's flagship quiz game, for example, runs more than 2000 tournaments, at any given point of time every minute of the day, where the players can pick a topic of their choice (Science, History, Film, Sports, Maths, Spellings, etc.) to compete for rewards against other players.[7][27][28]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mittal, Apoorva. "Zupee raises $30 million in funding led by WestCap Group, Tomales Bay Capital". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "Zupee raises USD 30 million at pre-money valuation in Series B funding round". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Zupee Raises $8 Mn From Matrix, Others To Tap Real Money Gaming". Inc42 Media. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ "Zupee Scaling Up It's Gaming Community With New Zupee Chief". Media Infoline. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ "Skill-based Gaming Can Improve Mental Health In Post Pandemic Era". BW Education. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Zupee raises $10 million funding from WestCap, Matrix Partners India". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Mathur, Nandita (2020-04-08). "Zupee raises $8 million in Series A funding led by Matrix Partners". mint. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ Bhalla, Tarush (2021-08-17). "Gaming platform Zupee raises $30 million at over $500 million valuation". mint. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "Meet the 31 start-ups most likely to become unicorns soon". Hindu Business Line. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "India becomes the world's third largest startup ecosystem, follows USA, china". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ Chengappa, Sangeetha. "Skill-based gaming company Zupee raises $8 million in Series A, led by Matrix Partners India". @businessline. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Smile Group backs gaming startup Zupee". VCCircle. 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ Bhatla, Prabhjeet (2021-01-15). "Smile Incubated Zupee Raises $10 Mn". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ Singh, Chhavideep (2021-01-12). "Gaming platform, Zupee raised $10M in funding from WestCap". TechStory. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ KPMG India & Google. (2017-05-01). “Online gaming in India: Reaching a new pinnacle.” Retrieved 13/04/2020. https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2017/05/online-gaming.pdf.
- ↑ KPMG India. (2019-03-01). “The evolving landscape of sports gaming in India.” Retrieved 13/04/2020. https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2019/03/online-gaming-india-fantasy-sports.pdf
- ↑ "Gaming platform Zupee closes Series B at over $500 million valuation". @businessline. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "FUNDING RUNDOWN: UpScalio raises $42.5 mn, Zupee secures $30 mn, Klub bags $20 mn, Rage Coffee gets $5 mn". www.cnbctv18.com. 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "Gaming Startup Zupee raised around $10M from WestCap Group -- Business News, Startup News, World News, Diplomatic News around the World". Global Business Line. 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ↑ "Gaming platform Zupee raises $30 million". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2021-08-17. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "Health News Update : Skill-based gaming can improve mental health". Trusted Online News Portals In India | Breaking News India. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ De Bonis, V; Gandalf, A (2015). "Game of Skill or Game of Luck? Motivations for Gambling". International Journal of Marketing Studies. 7 (3). doi:10.5539/ijms.v7n3p1 – via Semantic Scholar. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Chantal, Y; Vallerand, RJ (1996). "Skill versus luck: A motivational analysis of gambling involvement". Journal of Gambling Studies. 12 (4): 407–18. doi:10.1007/BF01539185. PMID 24234159 – via Pubmed. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ "Skill-based gaming can improve mental health in post-pandemic era". India's Biggest Gaming Platform. 2021-03-13. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ "Home". Zupee. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- ↑ "Playing games can boost learning, improve complex business trainings: Zupee founder". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ "Zupee - Live Trivia & Quiz with real money!". zupee.in. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ Nath, Ojasvi. "Zupee Mantra: Earn, Learn And Game On". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
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