India-based game developer Mayhem Studio has raised a $20-million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, reported The Economic Times.
Truecaller and India-focused investment manager Steadview Capital also participated in the funding round along with individual investor Bing Gordon, the chief product officer of US-based VC firm Kleiner Perkins.
Launched in 2022 as a subsidiary of Indian eSports firm Mobile Premier League, Mayhem Studios is a game development platform which has developed and published a free-to-play battle royale mobile game rooted in India called Underworld Gang Wars.
Mayhem Studio’s parent company, Mobile Premier League, entered the unicorn club in 2021 after its Series E funding round led by Legatum Capital, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia, SIG, RTP Global, Go-Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Play Ventures, Base Partners, Telstra Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital.
Mobile Premier League offers offers 60+ games for free download in categories such as fantasy sports, card games, arcade games, puzzle games, action games, and more. MPL also offers a wide spectrum of games for fantasy sports gamers.
Sequoia India had led Mobile Premier League’s Series A funding round in 2019 along with Times Internet and Go-Ventures, the venture capital arm of Indonesia’s GOJEK. Other investors in the round included RTP Global, BEENEXT, Base Growth, and Venture Highway.
In February this year, Sequoia Capital India led engineering analytics platform Hatica’s $3.7-million seed funding round along with its Southeast Asian accelerator programme Surge.
Sequoia Capital had raised a total of $1.35 billion for two funds focused on India and Southeast Asia in July 2020. Separately, the firm raised $200 million under its Surge programme, which invests in seed-stage startups based in India and Southeast Asia.
Sequoia is an investor in about 30 Indian unicorns, including online pharmacy PharmEasy, payments platform Razorpay, edtech startup Vedantu, HR tech platform Darwinbox, personal care brand Mamaearth, Rebel Foods, logistics startup BlackBuck, and fintech startup Groww, among others.