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Simple Viral Games, which platform for hyper-casual games, has raised Rs 4 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by WEH Ventures.

Eximius Ventures, a Gurugram-based micro venture fund, early-stage investor PointOne Capital, and Force Ventures, also participated in the round.

The company said it will use the funds to build distribution, expand its team, and add partnerships with gaming developers.

“We will onboard solo game developers and game studios to publish their instant games on our platform, while giving some share in revenue,” says Rahul KR, co-founder, Simple Viral Games.

Started in November by Rahul KR, a former product manager at Apna, a platform for blue-collar workers, and Sourav Badami, who was earlier with GoJek, Simple Viral Games offers easy-to-play games that fall under the hyper-casual category.

It launched Time Pass in December, a casual game in which users can switch between games through a TikTok-like interface.

“Except gaming, almost all other content categories have platforms that focus on personalized, infinite scrolls. We think Rahul and Sourav have great chemistry and complementary skills to build a TikTok for gaming platforms for Bharat,” says Rohit Krishna, general partner, WEH Ventures.

According to Rahul, the company will also look to build an offline version of Time Pass, which is currently available on iOS, Android and its website. Besides Time Pass, it also has titles like Element Block, Golf Adventures, and Comfy Farm, in its portfolio.

How big is gaming in India?

In India, the gaming sector is still nascent with potential for significant growth, largely driven by an acceleration in digital adoption in the country.

The market was valued at $2.6 billion in FY2022 and is projected to be worth about $8.6 billion by 2027, according to a report by Lumikai, a gaming-focused investment firm.

India is home to 507 million gamers, of whom 24% (121 million) are paying users, according to this report. 

Simple Viral Games is also working on developing fast-loading casual online games, similar to Google-incubated GameSnacks.