Wikipedia:Loco (Game Streaming Platform)

Loco is an India based video game live streaming platform and broadcaster of esports tournaments. Loco has communities across various games including Battlegrounds Mobile India, FreeFire Max, Call of Duty, Clash of Clans, Grand Theft Auto, and Valorant. As of Jan 2022, according to Google Play store, Loco had more 10 million users and is India’s largest game streaming app.

History
Loco was launched in January 2018 by Chetan Dhembre and Sushil Kumar as a live trivia game show app called Showtime, latter the app was acquired by Indian digital entertainment company, Pocket Aces, and relaunched as Loco. By August 2020, Loco streamers were streaming more than 1000 hours of live gaming content daily.

In 2021, the video game streaming platform was spun off from Pocket Aces and became an independent company led by founders, Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, with Chetan Dhembre being appointed the company’s Chief Technology Officer. In June 2021, the company announced that it had raised more than $9 million in seed funding, becoming one of the top 10 seed rounds of all time in India. The funding was led by the creator of PUBG, Korean video gaming giant, Krafton, Lumikai Fund and Hiro Capital.

On 10th March 2022, Bloomberg reported that Loco raised $42 million (Rs 330 crore) in a funding round led by crypto major Hashed, Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, Krafton, Lumikai, and Hiro Capital. The fundraise was the largest series a raise in the gaming sector in India and broader Asia. It was also reported that the company’s daily active users grew 15x while live watch hours on the platform grew 78x since January 2021.

Acquisitions and Partnerships
In January 2018, Pocket Aces a leading Indian digital media company acquired Loco. In 2021, Loco was spun off from Pocket Aces into a completely separate company. The platform has hosted some of the country’s largest esports tournaments in association with publishers like Activision, Ubisoft, Riot Games, The Pokemon Company and brands like NBA, Logitech, Red Bull.