[Update] EloElo Raises $13.5 Mn For Overseas Expansion

Update | April 10, 1:51 PM

A couple of days after it was reported that EloElo is raising a fresh capital, the social entertainment platform has announced the raise of $13.5 Mn (INR 114.3 Cr) in its Series B funding round.

The round was led by Play Ventures, along with participation from Kalaari Capital, MIXI Investments, Gameskraft Technologies, Griffin Gaming Partners, Waterbridge Ventures, Courtside Ventures & Rocket Capital.

The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to explore deeper GenAI use cases for its social media platform, expand internationally in Indian diaspora markets and scale its revenue.

“We switched on monetisation in May 2024 after 2-3 years of building the platform capabilities and scaling rapidly to hit PMF. In less than a year of launch, we are now hitting a INR 200 Cr annual revenue run rate ($23M ARR) with 1.5 Mn paying users and are one of the fastest growing platforms in India at this scale,” EloElo cofounder Saurabh Pandey said.

To date, Eloelo claims to have raised over $50 Mn in funding from investors such as Courtside Ventures, Higher Capital Consulting and others

Original | April 8, 9:45 AM

Live social entertainment platform Eloelo is raising INR 114.3 Cr ($13.2 Mn) as part of its Series B funding round led by gaming-focussed venture capital firm Play Ventures Investments. 

The round also saw participation from Kalaari Capital, WaterBridge Capital, Gameskraft Technologies, MIXI, Courtside Ventures, Rocket Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners and a couple of angel investors. 

As per regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Eloelo’s board on April 4 passed a special resolution to issue 1,696 Series B compulsory convertible preferred shares (CCPS) at an issue price of INR 6.73 Lakh each. 

While Singapore-based Play Ventures Investments pumped INR 34.71 Cr, Gameskraft and Kalaari infused INR 21.7 Cr and INR 13 Cr, respectively. While WaterBridge, Courtside Ventures and Japan’s MIXI Global Investments each invested INR 8.69 Cr, Rocket Capital pumped INR 9.57 Cr in the startup.  

Following the infusion, Kalaari Capital will own 6.35% in the company while Play Ventures and Countryside Ventures will hold 3.38% and 4.46% shareholding in Eloelo, respectively.

The development was first reported by Entrackr.

Founded in 2020 by Saurabh Pandey and Akshay Dubey, Eloelo is a social gaming and live streaming platform that allows users to play interactive online games. Creators can also host games on the platform for their community across games such as tambola, antakshari, and musical chairs. 

The startup last raised $22 Mn in its pre-Series B round led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners in September 2023. To date, the startup has raised more than $50 Mn in funding. 

As per Tofler, the pre-revenue startup saw its net losses zoom more than 128% to INR 99.06 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to INR 43.35 Cr in FY23. 

The fundraise comes at a time when the larger homegrown social media landscape has been witnessing a churn for the last few years. While the likes of Chingari and ShareChat raised millions of dollars during the capital mania of 2021, falling user engagement and no clear path to monetisation forced them on the path of course correction. 

However, many local players in the social media space have expanded into the live and casual gaming space to deepen engagement and create alternate streams of revenue.