Flipkart acquires Mech Mocha, a gaming startup to bolster its gaming strategy

E-commerce giant Flipkart has just made a new announcement in an attempt to bolster its gaming strategy in India. As per the information, the company has just acquired the intellectual property of gaming startup Mech Mocha. For some context, Mech Mocha is behind the live-social mobile gaming platform “Hello Play”. Mech Mocha team will be joining Flipkart to develop “new and innovative formats” to increase user engagement. This move comes right around the time when “social mobile gaming” is observing impressive growth in the market. The growth is especially evident after the pandemic swept across the country. Let’s check why this latest Flipkart acquisition matters for the gaming industry in India here.

Flipkart acquires Mech Mocha, details

The announcement noted that Mech Mocha is “uniquely placed to capture” and capitalize on the increasing growth in the social mobile gaming segment. Its platform, “Hello Play” is available in seven regional languages with more than ten popular multiplayer games. Some notable games in the list include Ludo, Carrom, Snakes & Ladder, and Cricket. Before this, the company attracted investments from notable investors around the globe including Blume Ventures, Accel Partners, and Shunwei Capital. The Mech Mocha team will work on “scaling Flipkart’s gaming efforts” under Flipkart VP Prakash Sikaria. Flipkart did not reveal the financial aspects of the deal. Arpita Kapoor, the Co-Founder, and CEO of Mech Mocha issued a statement as part of the news.

Kapoor stated, “With Vocal for Local being the focus for digital apps across the nation, this strategic backing of Flipkart provides us an opportunity to be part of a larger ecosystem that helps us create unique social gaming experiences for Indian users.” She went on to state, “We look forward to being a part of the Flipkart ecosystem and leveraging the Flipkart Cloud Platform, Super Coins, Reward store and Flipkart Ads platform to strengthen the platform for our users.”

Prakash Sikaria also shared a statement around the Mech Mocha acquisition. Sikaria added, “At Flipkart, we are focused on providing consumers with an opportunity to access great products and content while giving them an engaging experience. We see many first-time e-commerce users come online through formats such as video and games, as they build familiarity with the medium.” We will likely see Flipkart expand its causal games category to increase user engagement. The company will also likely integrate this segment with its current Flipkart Plus subscription while taking on other casual gaming platforms in India.