Stride Ventures leads Rs 17-cr debt round in Pocket Aces

Stride will be a strategic partner in Pocket Aces growth journey with its customised offerings and deep relationships across banks and corporates, a statement said.This is the 12th investment from Stride Ventures maiden fund and marks its foray in the digital media and entertainment space, it added.

Stride Ventures on Wednesday said it has led a Rs 17-crore debt round in digital entertainment company, Pocket Aces. Stride will be a strategic partner in Pocket Aces' growth journey with its customised offerings and deep relationships across banks and corporates, a statement said.

This is the 12th investment from Stride Ventures' maiden fund and marks its foray in the digital media and entertainment space, it added. Stride Ventures launched its maiden fund in 2019 and plans to invest in 25-30 startups through Stride Venture India Fund I.

Pocket Aces will utilise the capital raised to scale the current content output and invest further in new content formats and distribution channels, the statement said. Aditi Shrivastava, co-founder of Pocket Aces, said the lockdown last year accelerated adoption of digital media as the primary source of consumer entertainment. ''...We innovated rapidly to ensure that we could continue to thrive and increase content output in this new normal. As a result, we saw growth in all our major business lines this year. As we go into 2021, we are more excited than ever about the size of the entertainment opportunity in India,'' she added.

Major investors in Pocket Aces include Sequoia Capital, 3one4 Capital, DSP Group and North Base Media among others. Pocket Aces has worked with over 100 brands across sectors including Tinder, Hindustan Unilever, PureMe, Bacardi, Unacademy, Mondelez among others. On the other hand, its game streaming and esports platform Loco, has hosted large mobile gaming tournaments.

''Pocket Aces... creates highly relatable content, making it appealing especially for the younger demographic. At Stride, we strive to partner with indigenous companies which have the ability to scale up rapidly by leveraging technology and we see Pocket Aces as a great addition to our portfolio,'' Stride Ventures Founder and Managing Partner Ishpreet Gandhi said.

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