WinZO, a gaming startup announced intentions to invest USD 50 million (approximately Rs 410 crore) in the global gaming ecosystem as part of its flagship Game Developer Fund on Monday.

As part of the program, the business plans to invest at least USD 10 million of the fund in US-based startups.

"Indian gaming startup WinZO has unveiled the fourth edition of its flagship Game Developer Fund, with the largest ever corpus of USD 50 million to support the global gaming ecosystem. The fund will invest at least USD 10 million in US-based startups," the firm said in a statement.

WinZO intends to spend the money on startups in all areas of interactive entertainment, including game developers and publishers, gaming economies, content creation, live-ops and security.

The games range in type from casual to action to sports to mid-core multiplayer games like tennis and golf.

“Given our platform play at WinZO where we have access to the performance of over 100 games by more than 50 developers across diverse genres, we think we are well-poised to spot signs, mechanics and metrics of early success. In addition, as operators, we tend to create a melting pot for our portfolio companies to exchange ideas, do pilots, or leverage WinZO's community and resources,” said WinZO co-founder Paavan Nanda.

To date, WinZO has invested in startups such as Web3 gaming company Upskillz, Web3 gaming community startup IndiGG, Village Studio in the United Kingdom, Bombay Play in India and Glip, a blockchain-based creator economy and streaming startup.

The expenditures ranged from the seed to the growth stage. With the new fund, WinZO is ready to invest up to USD 10 million in a startup.

While the US mobile gaming industry's revenues fell in the first quarter of 2022, India's gaming industry is expanding at a 38 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach USD 10 billion in five years, according to the statement.

India also claims to have the most mobile game downloads in the globe, with over 15 billion.

WinZO has previously collaborated with global gaming companies such as Voodoo and Next Wave to debut their games in India and to add over 100 games to its app in categories such as card games, board games, fantasy, strategy, arcade and so on.

Global gaming firms have historically struggled to generate revenue in India. The problem of monetisation encountered by game developers and studios can be attributed to the replication of traditional game monetisation models in India, despite significant economic and cultural differences.

“WinZO's unique monetisation strategy and proprietary formats are powered by micro-transactions ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 10. This is very popular with the Indian audience,” Nanda said.

WinZO has received a total of USD 100 million in multiple rounds from Griffin Gaming Partners in California, other gaming funds such as Maker's Fund and Courtside, and India-based VC Kalaari Capital.