Flipkart has announced the acquisition of the Intellectual Property of Mech Mocha for an undisclosed fee. The mobile gaming startup runs a live social gaming platform- Hello Play. This deal will strengthen India’s leading e-commerce company’s gaming portfolio.
As per this deal, the skilled gaming team of Mech Mocha will also join hands with Flipkart to develop new formats on the platform to engage with users. Mech Mocha is currently available in seven languages. It has developed more than ten games, including popular multiplayer games such as Ludo, Carrom, Snakes & Ladder and Cricket.
Mech Mocha also allows users to interact with each other through its in-game video and voice chat features. The move to acquire Mech Mocha by Flipkart has come at a time when consumption of casual gaming has seen massive growth in India during the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic.
Mech Mocha was founded by Arpita Kapoor and Mohit Rangaraju six years ago. It has received funding from venture capitalists such as Accel, Blume Ventures, and Shunwei Capital.
Mech Mocha Co-founder and CEO Arpita Kapoor said, “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. 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, Vice-President of Flipkart, said, “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. Our observations of Flipkart GameZone, reflect this trend as we see a strong correlation between casual gamers becoming early shoppers on Flipkart for their digital journey. Through this transaction, we will strengthen our capabilities in the gaming domain with access to Mech Mocha’s IP, gamed talented team that will help us accelerate our efforts in this space.”
Mech Mocha will be the first acquisition for Flipkart in the gaming segment. In the past, it had acquired several companies including Letsbuy, Myntra, and PhonePe. Over the years, the Walmart-controlled company had bought stakes in startups such as Blackbuck, Shadowfax, Qikpod, and EasyRewardz.