Junglee Games sets eye on western market

After establishing itself in the Indian gaming industry, Junglee Games founded by Ankush Gera has set its eyes on the western markets.

“We are going to launch its maiden game, developed for the western market, is expected to hit the market by the year end,” Ankush, who is also the CEO of Junglee Games, told BusinessLine .

A ‘Gold Rush’ theme game would be offered as a freemium (free and paid versions) and as a tournament for the gamers in the West. The firm takes a cut in the prize money, besides making revenues on the sale of in-game offerings.

The firm, which made gross transactional revenues (GTR) of about $270 million last year, is targeting to achieve $600 million this financial year. The firm realises a revenue of about 10 per cent of the GTR.

The six-year-old company, which has about 250 employees in India and abroad, is planning to hire about 100-150 people in the next 12 months.

Ankush floated the gaming company after he sold his maiden venture Monsoon Company to Capital One for an undisclosed consideration.

With the proceeds he received out of the transaction, he invested in about 50 start-ups. “I have put in seed stage investments. Not very big cheques, though. Some investments are late stage too,” he said.

The company currently has a user base of 25 million and aims to reach 40-50 million by the end of FY2019-20.

“We have close to doubled in revenues and headcount every year,” he said.

The Indian gaming industry, with a size of $500 million (net revenues of gaming companies), is growing very fast. “From about $20-30 million about six years ago, the industry grew to $500 million,” he said.

“It, however, is super tiny when you compare with the size of the global gaming industry that is pegged at over $100 billion. It is bigger than Hollywood,” Ankush claimed.

The company operates from San Francisco and Delhi, and has teams in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Canada, Argentina, and Poland.

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