QuriousBit, a casual puzzle gaming studio co-founded by Ramakrishna Reddy Y L and Shubham Joshi, former core team members of PlaySimple, has recently secured $2 million in its initial funding round. Lumikai, a leading VC fund in India specializing in Gaming and Interactive media, took the lead in this investment round, with General Catalyst joining as co-investors.
Fuelled by the vision to pin India on the global map of hit puzzle games, the company aims to utilize the funds from this seed round to create a new benchmark in innovative puzzle games built in India for global audiences. The founders will be investing heavily in curating a stellar team to build a high-quality casual mobile gaming studio.
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Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner, Lumikai stated “A fresh and innovative approach both in game design and distribution is imperative to achieve category leading success in the highly competitive global casual gaming market given current market conditions. Ram and Shubham’s deep thinking, category expertise, and design orientation deeply impressed us. We are excited to be on the QuriousBit journey with them”
The founders of the studio bring a wealth of experience and success in the gaming industry. Together, they have built games that have amassed over 125 million installations and generated a combined revenue of over $350 million, including seven titles with positive EBITDA margins.. Prior to establishing QuriousBit, Ram held the position of Assistant General Manager at PlaySimple Games, a global leader in word games, which was acquired by MTG for over $500 million in 2021. Meanwhile, Shubham served as the Principal Software Engineer at PlaySimple Games.
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Ramakrishna Reddy Y L, Founder, QuriousBit, said “We see a huge opportunity in casual puzzle games beyond match-3 and blast genres. We believe some of these genres are ripe to disrupt with innovative core gameplay mechanics and deeper narratives. Our aim is to build a world class gaming studio based out of India, entertaining global audiences. Lumikai and General Catalyst partnering with us in this journey positions us well to achieve it.”
The global mobile casual games market is worth about $18Bn in 2023 and is expected to grow 1.4x to $25Bn in 2027. Over the last few years, the gaming industry has seen the dominance of certain match3 games in the puzzle genre, with limited breakouts beyond match3 and blast-themed games.
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QuriousBit intends to emulate the successful playbook of breakout puzzle games across sub-genres in the casual gaming market which are untapped and underserved. A focus on rich narratives, personalized gaming experiences alongside innovation on core metas coupled with nuanced distribution strategies are part of Qurious Bit’s roadmap.
“At General Catalyst, we are believers of audacious founders from India building for the world. When we met Rama and Shubham, we became fans of their deep expertise, having driven the growth of PlaySimple’s games to over $100M in revenues, resulting in one of the best exits in the Indian ecosystem to date,” said Anand Chandrasekaran, Partner at General Catalyst. “We are honored to be an early partner in QuriousBit’s journey, and excited about the team’s creative approach to puzzle games.”
About QuriousBit
QuriousBit is a company founded by Ramakrishna Reddy Y L, and Shubham Joshi in Bengaluru, India. The studio aims to produce high-quality casual puzzle games for mobile platforms from India for the world. The company intends to build deep game mechanics, with a rich narrative, creating a personalized gaming experience, that is currently missing in puzzle games. The founders have developed and operated games for PlaySimple Games, a global leader in word games from India. PlaySimple was acquired by MTG for over $500mn in 2021.
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Prior to founding QuriousBit, Ram was the Assistant General Manager at PlaySimple, and Shubham was the Principal Software Engineer at PlaySimple. Ram and Shubham have both managed games, driving over 125 million installs, and generating cumulative revenues of over $350 million with 7+ EBITDA positive titles. The team has deep experience in building tech infra, in-house analytics, and an ad-tech stack at scale.
About Lumikai
Lumikai is India’s first dedicated games and interactive media VC. It is the pioneering VC fund catalysing India’s gaming and interactive media revolution. The fund invests in companies at the cross-section of technology, culture and new media. The leadership team combines decades of strategic experience and sector knowledge while leveraging all-star local and global networks to help propel founders to success.
