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Eloelo, a platform that combines social gaming and live streaming, has raised $22 million in a Pre-Series B round co-led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners.

MIXI Inc joined in this funding round, and existing backers, including WaterBridge Ventures, Lumikai Fund, Kalaari Capital, Convivialite Ventures, and Rocket Capital, also invested.

Eloelo Founder and CEO Saurabh Pandey told YourStory that the funds will be used to partner with more creators and develop new tools across artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), broaden recruitment efforts to attract tech and product talent, and reinforce revenue generation and monetisation strategies.

The funding round for the Bengaluru-based firm comes approximately 14 months after its Series A round of $13 million. With this infusion of $22 million, Eloelo’s total funding has now reached $37.5 million.

Eloelo offers a blend of live entertainment with games and communities, which according to Pandey, represents a contemporary social network tailored to suit the communication preferences of young Indians.

“Eloelo is pioneering a new form of entertainment in India. Through a unique combination of game participation within live streaming, they are building the next generation of social networking that enables true interactivity within their community,” said Kai Bond, Partner at Courtside Ventures.

Eloelo integrates audio and video live chat rooms with interactive games and shows, connecting millions of users and creators. Presently, the platform has about 37 million users and 120,000 creators. Pandey anticipates that by the end of this financial year (FY2023-24), Eloelo is poised to have nearly 55 to 60 million users and about 200,000 creators.

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Saurabh Pandey, Founder and CEO of Eloelo. Image credit: Eloelo

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“Through the magic of gamification, Eloelo is transforming live streams into captivating experiences that translate to deep audience engagement. The platform has attracted a vast community of content creators, driving its growth to nearly 40 million users,” Nick Tuosto, Managing Director and Co-founder of Griffin Gaming Partners, noted.

Eloelo’s app is currently available in six languages, and the platform plans to incorporate additional languages in the coming months due to the growing interest from Tier II and III audiences. It employs a hybrid approach, utilising both AI and manual content moderation to ensure a secure environment for all users.

The Bengaluru-based firm currently employs approximately 32 moderators who operate round the clock. It leverages technical moderation through machine learning models and AI. Looking ahead, Eloelo intends to increase its team size from the current 100 employees to approximately 150 by the end of this fiscal year, as per Pandey.

Eloelo is introducing diverse revenue-generating avenue for creators, including features such as in-chat gifting, engagement in group audio calls, and the hosting of interactive game shows, he added.

“Saurabh and Team Eloelo’s bold vision to design a truly India-first, participatory social entertainment platform, is disrupting existing entertainment mediums like TV,” said Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner at Lumikai Fund.

Lumikai, an investment fund focused on gaming and interactive media, earlier this year launched its second fund (Fund II) targeting a $50 million corpus from global investors to support promising gaming and interactive media entrepreneurs in India.