Flipkart acquires gaming startup Mech Mocha

Walmart-owned e-commerce marketplace Flipkart on Tuesday announced that it has acquired gaming startup Mech Mocha for an undisclosed amount, as it looks to develop newer formats to boost user engagement on its own GameZone platform.

The acquisition will also see the gaming team from Mech Mocha, which runs a vernacular social gaming platform Hello Play, joining the e-commerce company. Flipkart will also take over ten odd games that Mech Mocha has developed over the past five years, including Ludo, Carrom, Snakes and Ladder, and Cricket.

“We see many first-time e-commerce users come online through formats such as video and games,” said Prakash Sikaria, Vice President at Flipkart. “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.”

Bengaluru-based Mech Mocha was started in 2014 by Arpita Kapoor and Mohit Rangaraju and is backed by top tier venture funds including Accel Partners, Blume Ventures and Shunwei Capital. Flipkart is also an investor in Mech Mocha, having participated in the startup’s $1 million seed round in 2015.

“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,” said Arpita Kapoor, cofounder and CEO at Mech Mocha.