Games2win receives US$6 million in Series B funding

Clearstone Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank also gave Games2win its first round of funding of US$5 million in 2007.

Games2win, the online games company founded in 2007, has received a Series B investment round from Clearstone Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB India Capital Partners). The company has raised US$6 million in financing.

This has taken its total funding to US$11 million, where in its first round of financing in 2007, Games2win.com had raised about US$5 million from the same investors -- Clearstone Venture Partners and SVB Financial Group. The first round of funding was used to upgrade content, hire talent and build the brand.

Over the past four years, the company has been successful in creating an original casual games library of more than 400 games that are played by more than 20 million consumers each month, as per comScore data. The company's games are unique in their originality and are actively licensed by the world's largest publishers such as Yahoo.com, Viacom Kids and Discovery Channel.

Alok Kejriwal, chief executive officer, Games2win, says, "Games2win owns one of the largest collections of casual, 'snacky' games in the world and we intend to aggressively capitalise on the huge energy and excitement surrounding 'online games', which is the fastest growing category on the internet."

He adds, "We understand the mindset of a humungous 400+ million teen and tween gaming audience on the internet who nibble on our kind of games -- both on their PCs, iTouch and Android devices. The new resurgence of mobility and internet in India is creating massive opportunities in the online gaming space and we are very well geared to dominate that space with our strong foothold here."

Rajan Mehra, venture partner, Clearstone Venture Partners, who has joined the board of Games2win, says, 'We're really excited with the gaming opportunity in India and the momentum built by Games2win in the development and distribution of games that are globally competitive. We believe that the company is well positioned to break-out and become the No. 1 player in the Indian casual and social gaming space as this category hits hyper-growth."

Ash Lilani, president, SVB India Capital Partners, says, "We are delighted to increase our investment in Games2win. The team has done a fantastic job in positioning the company as a differentiated global player in the casual and social gaming arena. We believe that Games2win is poised to be a significant player in this segment."

For the record, Games2win is based in Mumbai and has a 70-people team. The gaming company was hived off from Contests2Win.com as a separate entity in late 2006, with Alok Kejriwal as CEO, and Cyrus Oshidar and Mahesh Khambadkone as co-founders.