Gaming community startup Stan bags $2.7 million funding

The Government of Karnataka will work with AIGDF and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) to raise awareness about mindful technology.

Gaming community platform Stan has raised $2.7 million financing from a clutch of new and existing investors, the startup said on January 23, signifying rising investor interest in the industry.

The funding round saw participation from new investors such as blockchain firm Aptos Labs, Maelstrom Fund, an early-stage investment fund run by the family office of BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, and early-stage venture capital firms Pix Capital and GFR Fund. Existing investor General Catalyst also participated in the round.

Bengaluru-based Stan said the round was also supported by CoinDCX Ventures, Climber Capital, TDV Partners, and Coinswitch Ventures.

"Stan has been working actively to help build the engaged gaming creator base in the country around common interests, and has tasted success with some of its creators participating in Big Boss 17," founder Parth Chadha said.

The startup plans to use the fund to "democratise" infrastructure for creators, invest in personalised experiences for users, and use artificial intelligence in developing a "fluid" community architecture among others.

The Indian market presented a lot of challenge to the creators to monetise from their followers and they needed to move to multiple platforms to be able to learn and push for monetisation. "Stan intends to tap into the creator supply and help them grow their fanbase and monetise on Stan from Day 1" Chadha said.

Started by Chadha, Rahul Singh, Nauman Mulla, and Shubham Gupta in 2022, Stan provides a Web3-based platform for creators to build, monеtisе communitiеs and allow usеrs to engage with their favourite gaming creators or celebrities through digital collectibles, chat or audio rooms, and еxclusivе cеlеbrity communities. It also lets users to engage with each other.

Gamers can collect, play and trade digital collectibles such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of their favourite esports players and content creators, through which can they win physical and virtual world experiences and rewards such as meetups or matches with their favorite players, bootcamp tours with their favourite esports teams, signed merchandise and social media interactions.

Stan had raised about $2.5 million in its seed funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from Bеttеr Capital, Eximius Vеnturеs, among othеrs in May 2022.

"We have been excited to see many esports superstars use them as the core platform to engage with their fans. In a macro environment where esports has now been duly recognized as a sport in India, General Catalyst is excited to continue to support the team" said Anand Chandrasekaran, Partner, General Catalyst.

Stan claims to have over four million users and 50 million annualised microtransactions. About 75 percent of the users come from tiеr 2 and 3 citiеs. It aims to reach 10 million users over the next six months.

“Having backed and believed in Parth and Stan at the onset, I continue to back and believe in his vision of building gaming communities around commonality of interest. I am excited in welcoming our new and returning investors in backing the venture in its next phase of growth,” Akshat Rathee, founding Investor, STAN said.