9stacks Raises Over Rs. 10 Cr in Angel Funding
Real-money online skill-based gaming startup 9stacks today announced the close of more than Rs 10 Crore in angel funding (pre-series A). Angel Investors include Swati Gupta (founder, IndustryBuying); Purnima Khandelwal (founder, INI Farms); Maheshwer Peri (founder, Careers360); Sanjay Singh (founder, Swas Healthcare); Anant Daga (MD, TCNS Clothing / W), Kartik Sheth (chief innovation officer Airtel and CEO, Wynk); Kedar Gavane (VP, ComScore); Amit Diwan (senior director, Hines); Mohit Sardana (CBO, GoFro) and Shubhajit Sen (ex-CMO, Micromax). The round also saw participation from a number of VC and PE investors in their personal capacities.
9stacks currently offers online real-money poker to customers in 24 Indian states, who can access its modern and secure poker platform on 9stacks, and on iOS, Android, MacOS and Windows native apps.
9stacks will utilize the funding to accelerate its product and technology development as well as scale to other geographies and other categories within the real money online gaming space. The company is also significantly investing in producing its own poker-specific content to help users develop their poker skills and connect with other poker players.
“Our vision is to make 9stacks India’s best online poker platform,” said Sudhir Kamath, CEO and cofounder, 9stacks. “With the backing of our angel investors, we want to make 9stacks the first choice for new users to play poker, with the most user-friendly interface, quickest pay-ins and pay-outs through seamless integration with payment gateways / bank accounts, and clear policies on tax deduction for a safe and hassle-free playing experience.”
The real-money skill-based gaming segment includes companies offering rummy, poker and fantasy league contests, and has seen a number of investments and exits recently.
Founded in April 2017, 9stacks aims to be India’s best real-money skill-gaming platform and is run by a close-knit group of founders from reputed institutions like the IITs and IIM Ahmedabad, with experience in companies like Groupon (Nearbuy), Nykaa, Zivame, McKinsey & Co and the Boston Consulting Group.
9stacks is part of SparSkills Technologies Private Limited, a company focused on technology development and branding/marketing in the space of real money online gaming in India. This Delhi-based startup launched its first offering – online poker – in October 2017. 9stacks is operational as a website on the URL 9stacks.com. Users can also play poker through the 9stacks iOS app. It has also launched 9stacks.in to be a one-stop content site to help users improve their poker skills.
9stacks emphasizes safety and user experience for all its players.
