Early-stage mobile game studio LILA Games has raised $2.8M, in a seed financing round led by BITKRAFT Ventures. 

The round also attracted participation from Galaxy Interactive and several angel investors, including Mike Sherrill, co-founder of Machine Zone; Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of Super Evil Megacorp; and Ludovic Bodin, former CEO of CMUNE. 

LILA Games, which is currently working on Project B.L.A.C.K – what it calls the “most ambitious F2P shooter game ever designed” – says it will use the new capital to expand its team in India, hiring across product management, development, game design, and art. 

The studio was founded by Joseph Kim, former Chief Product Officer at SEGA and Studio Lead at FunPlus, having led the overall development of the hit 4X title King of Avalon; Paul Leydon, former lead game designer at FunPlus and MZ, having worked on multiple #1 top-grossing titles including Game of War; and Avinash Pandey, a Y Combinator alum who has led development on more than 50 mobile apps and games, including a real-time multiplayer shooter that notched up over 40 million organic installs. 

Commenting on the news, BITKRAFT Ventures Founding General Partner, Jens Hilgers, said:

“LILA Games is made up of an outstanding founder team, and they are focused on a very sizable genre that has room for innovation on mobile.

“While we’ve seen many iconic games spawn in the FPS genre on PC, the mobile market is young and extremely popular and will follow. There is a significant opportunity to build out new sub-genres and ample room to explore. The audience is eagerly waiting for new gameplay mechanics and alterations – and that is exactly what LILA Games is building.”

While CEO at LILA Games, Joseph Kim, added:

“We are attempting to build the most ambitious mobile shooter game ever designed. And while we sold our investors on the product vision, as co-founders we created the company to build a new type of organization.”

According to the studio, it is “focused on attacking orthodoxy and creating a games studio with incredible structural advantage.” This is being achieved through strong cultural values, differentiated operating processes, and the beneficial costs associated with operating in India. 

AYO.NEWS says:

In summer, BITKRAFT Ventures raised an impressive $165M to invest in gaming, esports, and interactive media, and it’s cool to see some of it is going to a studio working on such an ambitious project. It’s also really cool to see more investment in the Indian video games sector, which is brimming with enthusiast talent right now. 

Of course, now the pressure really is on the LILA Games team to turn Project B.L.A.C.K into a true game changer. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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