Jio Platforms, the company which raised money like there was no tomorrow earlier this year, has decided to start spending some of its new found wealth, and has decided to lead the Series A funding round in a San Francisco based AR gaming startup called Krikey.
The company has not disclosed the amount it has poured into the startup, but said that Krikey has raised $22 million to date.
“Our vision with Krikey is to bring together inspiration and reality in an immersive way. With augmented reality, we are able to bring fantasy worlds into your home, straight through the window of your mobile phone,” said Jhanvi and Ketaki Shriram in a joint statement today.
Gaming has seen a huge boom this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and people having to stay at home due to lockdown. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Jio Platforms decided to back a startup that is experimenting with a new genre of gaming, and is one of the few prominent players in a mostly untapped space.
Krikey has developed two games in the past, and has announced another one- ‘Yaatra’ as part of the latest announcement, where you can step in a world created by AR by using just the camera on your phone and play to destroy a monster army.
The company was founded by sisters Jhanvi and Ketaki Shriram, who are of Indian origin themselves.
In a statement, Akash Ambani, Director of Jio, said, “Krikey will inspire a generation of Indians to embrace Augmented Reality. Our vision is to bring the best experiences from across the world to India and the introduction of Yaatra is a step in that direction. Augmented Reality gaming takes the user into a world of its own, and we invite every Jio and non-Jio user to experience AR through Yaatra.”
