Posted: Post Date – 07:32 PM, Thursday – November 3rd
Left to right – Keerti Singh, Co-founder of Hitwicket, Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary of IT – Government of Telangana and Kashyap Reddy, Co-founder of Hitwicket.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Hitwicket, a multiplayer cricket game app, has launched ‘Hitwicket Superstars’, allowing gamers to put on the team manager hat. The company also announced that it has raised $3 million (approximately Rs 243 crore) in funding from Prime Venture Partners.
Hitwicket, founded by Keerti Singh and Kashyap Reddy, will use the new funding to add more features around multiplayer access. Hitwicket has over 3 million gamers in 100 countries, over 30% of which are from outside India. It records 1.3 million minutes of gameplay per day, with an average user session lasting 45 minutes. About 17% of Hitwicket gamers are women. The game is free to download in all app stores.
According to a KPMG report, India’s gaming industry is expected to triple in value to $3.9 billion by 2025. Furthermore, according to a report by Ernst & Young and FICCI, the total number of online gamers in India has grown to 390 million by 2021, and the company said it expects the number of gamers to exceed 450 million by 2023.
“It’s amazing to see a vibrant gaming ecosystem growing in Telangana. With India’s extraordinary talent and thriving startup industry, the country is ripe to lead the development of games for a global audience. The gaming industry has the potential to be a job and a huge source of education, I’m proud to see Telangana’s company leading the way. Hitwicket is an example of the combination of technology and innovation that delivers one of the biggest cricket strategy games to the world, built in India for India and the world ,” said Jayesh Ranjan, chief secretary for IT and industry.
“India is witnessing tremendous growth in the gaming industry. Users between the ages of 20 and 40 form the cornerstone of the global gaming and eSports community, and India is one of the most interesting global gaming markets,” said Shripati Acharya, managing partner at Prime Venture Partners.
