Gaming studio LightFury Games has raised $11 Mn in its pre-Series A funding round from Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, MIXI, and Times Internet. Indian cricketers like MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan also joined the round as strategic investors. The gaming startup plans to utilise the capital for the development of its debut title ‘eCricket’, which is a ‘AAA’ rated mobile game that is slated to launch later this year.
For context, the ‘AAA’ title is awarded to high-budget games that set industry benchmarks for graphics and performance, with high production values and marketing campaigns, like GTA V or Last of Us. Bengaluru-based LightFury will also invest in bolstering its live operations and infrastructure content pipeline for post-launch scale and player engagement. The startup also aims to launch the eCricket game on a more global scale for 2.5 Bn cricket enthusiasts around the world.
Founded in 2024 by former Unacademy CMO Karan Shroff, along with Anurag Banerjee, and Tina Balachandran, LightFury is a AAA-focused gaming studio building AI-powered gaming experiences. It raised $8.5 Mn in its seed funding round led by Blume Ventures in 2024. According to the startup, eCricket is being built using Unreal Engine 5, which is a real-time 3D creation tool developed by Epic Games for games, film, and visualisation.
It will offer a progression-driven experience with evolving player journeys shaped by real-time decisions. Moreover, the game will feature strategic batting and bowling systems that will capture real-world match dynamics, combined with dynamic AI commentary and broadcast presentation to differentiate between matches. The game will include real-time multiplayer battles and live esports tournaments.
The startup also holds a global player roster license of over 600 professional cricketers, including Chris Gayle, Ben Stokes, Pat Cummins, and Andre Russell. The funding comes at a time when the country’s gaming ecosystem is experiencing a revamp after years of scrutiny tied to real money gaming (RMG) platforms. Yesterday, MeitY notified the regulatory framework for the Online Gaming Act, 2025, which will come into effect from May 1.
As per the new rules, gaming platforms that don’t involve financial transactions or feature high-risk environments don’t need to register with the ministry. While the Act completely bans online RMG, it also mandates safety measures like age verification, parental controls, grievance redressal, fair play monitoring, and responsible gaming safeguards. The Centre and the state governments have been pushing for the development of the gaming ecosystem beyond RMG in the country.
Despite being home to a large number of gamers, very few ‘AAA’ games have come out of India. To address this, the Karnataka state government announced in February that a Centre of Excellence for gaming will be set up in Bengaluru to bolster existing gaming startups and attract new ventures into the space. At the same time, the Centre recently approved the setting up of the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) in Mumbai as a national Centre of Excellence for the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) sector.
At the heart of this push is the country’s rapidly growing gaming ecosystem, which is projected to reach a size of $9.89 Bn by 2031. Earlier this week, online gaming startup Spill Games, which operates in the casual and puzzle gaming segment, raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round.