[Startup Watchlist] Rolocule's new game, Octro's secret sauce and HashCube's fundraise

The startup watchlist last time brought to you some exciting startups from the field of agritech. And this time around as well, we thought of bunching some upcoming startups together in a category- Gaming. Culturally, India has never been a gaming nation but there are a lot of companies (more than 25 gaming companies which have more than 20 people according to Dhruva CEO) that help in making games that are played globally. With smartphone and internet penetration increasing, local appetite for gaming is also rising and the space is heating up. Here's the latest from three upcoming gaming startups from India:

1. Rolocule's new game- Dead Among Us

Rolocule games is a Pune based gaming company that was founded back in 2010. The company was founded by Rohit Gupta and Anuj Tandon, and their story is one full of heart! Rolocule has made some cutting edge games for the global audience and their games have amassed more than 5 million downloads.

Their latest game - Dead Among Us- was announced on Halloween and is a bold new direction for Rolocule. DAU has been optimised for one-hand controls and elements of storytelling, while keeping intact the fun of good old zombie killing. The game has been in development for the past 6 months and the team is currently working on polishing the gameplay along with adding more levels before releasing the game. The game will be free to download with in-app purchases.

Apart from DAU, Rolocule is also pushing on the Apple TV front with their DanceParty game built on their Rolomotion technology. The startup has managed to find its space and is now certainly under the global gaming radar.

2. Octro's Teen Patti, Rummy and more

Based out of Noida, Octro was founded in 2006 and is today one of the largest mobile gaming company in India with two of its games, Teen Patti and Rummy, among the top 5 games in multiple categories on Google Play Store (the company is registered in the US). It was most recently in news because of its $15 million fund raise from Sequoia.Teen Patti and Rummy are old cult games in India and the rise of mobile meant that these games were bound to pick up. Octro managed to capitalize on this has built a user base of more than 10 million. The games are free to download but in-app purchases go as high as INR 9000! And there's a deeper technology play here as well. Octro doesn't only have the traction, it has a strong technology base which has a B2B angle and this is one of the reasons for the funding as well. Keep an eye out on what Octro does next.

3. HashCube

HashCube is a cross-platform social gaming company, with titles on Facebook and Mobile. The company's flagship title, Sudoku Quest, is the most popular Sudoku game on Facebook. HashCube has been steadily growing over the last couple of years and has more than 3 million users as of now. But it recently partnered with WestBridge capital backed Nazara Technologies and this will open up a host of possibilities for HashCube.

HashCube has received INR 4.2 crores in this series A round which is led by Nazara along with other investors. Nazara, which is present across Africa, Middle East and south east Asia, will deploy its distribution networks to market HashCube's games globally. This will breathe in a fresh wave of energy at HashCube and possibly more games.

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