Turnip allows creators to form clubs, where they can stream or record their games for fans, talk on audio or video, text each other, run esports tournaments, and host masterclasses.
Turnip, a mobile-first gaming community platform, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding co-led by Greenoaks and Elevation Capital.
The round also saw participation from SEA Capital, Vibe Capital and a clutch of founders and angel investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) partner Andrew Chen, Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Notion COO Akshay Kothari, Streamyard cofounder Geige Vandentop.
Meesho cofounders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Unacademy cofounders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, Groww founders Lalit Keshre, Ishan Bansal and Harsh Jain, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Udaan cofounder Sujeet Kumar were also part of the funding round.
The Bengaluru-based startup had previously raised a seed funding of $1.6 million from Elevation Capital and Better Capital in February last year.
The company plans to use the fresh capital raised to expand its presence in India and other geographies such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. The proceeds will also be used to hire people across various functions as technology, design and growth.
Founded in April 2020 by Pooja Dubey and Aditya Sharma, Turnip helps creators build communities that can make game streaming into a highly interactive, social, and engaging activity. The app allows creators to form clubs, where they can stream or record their games for fans, talk on audio or video, text each other, run esports tournaments, and host masterclasses.
Turnip says it supports a variety of creators including live streamers, montage creators, esports organizations, college clubs, and groups of friends. It also allows users to stream and monetize their interactive experiences on existing platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
“Our goal is to build from India for the 2 billion gamers spread across the world. Gamers have been early adopters of technologies and this has created some of the most innovative and immersive consumer products globally — Discord, Streamlabs, Unity, Twitch, Axie Infinity. We want to continue on this same legacy and become the global default home for mobile gaming communities” Pooja Dubey and Aditya Sharma said in a joint statement.
The startup claims to have more that five million users, up from 250,000 users in November 2020. About 45% of its user base is from outside India, spanning geographies including Latin America, Middle East, Southeast Asia and North Africa, the United States, and Europe. These users have collectively spent more than a billion minutes on the platform in 2021, the startup said.
“Today’s streamers and other creators want to cultivate deep, personalized, and persistent relationships with their fans, with a richness that’s impossible to achieve on Twitch or YouTube alone. Turnip is building a platform that transforms passive viewers into an actively engaged community, delighting fans while enabling new options for creators, from subscriptions, to events, to sponsorships, and more” said Greenoaks partner Neil Shah.
“The product puts gamers, a large proportion of digital creators today, at the centre and lets them imagine completely new experiences for their community. Turnip’s spectacular growth and global reach in the past year further cements our belief in their vision and we are thrilled to reaffirm our partnership in this latest funding round” said Elevation Capital partner Mayank Khanduja.
Photo Courtesy: Turnip, Entrackr
Source: Money Control
