Krafton Inc, the makers of the popular battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and PUBG Mobile, has led a $6.5-million Series A funding round into Bengaluru-based audio romance and friend discovery startup FRND. The round also saw participation from existing investors India Quotient and Elevation Capital.
Founded by Bhanu Pratap Singh Tanwar, Hardik Bansal and Harshvardhan Chhangani, FRND allows young people to connect with each other through live-streamed formats like FRND Dating and audio games like Raja Rani Chor Police, Voice Match and other casual games, with focus on creating one-on-one connections.
Users will be able to connect through audio in a pseudo-anonymous manner and start conversations through a matchmaker, the company said. The app is available for download on Google Play Store and the startup said an average user is currently spending about 25 minutes on a daily basis on the app.
Tanwar said the funds raised will be used to increase its footprint within India and across the world, strengthen its technology ecosystem and expand its language support from the existing 10 Indian languages.
"There is a huge untapped opportunity in the Indian romance market, where youngsters connect and interact with the opposite gender over the internet. We have been working towards providing a safer platform to the Indian youth, especially girls," he said.
This is Krafton's fourth startup investment in India this year, after previously backing game streaming platform Loco, esports firm Nodwin Gaming, and Indian language storytelling platform Pratilipi.
"This investment is aligned with our efforts to intensify our commitment to the startup ecosystem in India. We see great potential in this high-volume transaction digital startup and are happy to invest in their growth story," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of India Division at Krafton Inc.
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