Matiks raises $10M pre-Series A to expand math and puzzle gaming platform

Indian entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures participated in the round. The new funding brings Matiks’ total raised to more than $13.5 million, the company said.

Matiks said its daily users grew from 22,000 earlier this year to more than 300,000 by September. The app also had 2.2 million monthly active users that month. The namesake app has been available for two years, but the company said it saw real traction this year.

The app offers Math, Puzzle, Memory and Logic categories. Users can play against bots to practice, then against real players, and can take on challenges and quests to earn points, maintain streaks and unlock new games. Until now, Matiks has focused on user growth. It began testing a subscription this month that unlocks game analysis, tips and tricks, practice and additional features. The startup also offers in-game purchases to skip certain challenges, maintain a streak and boost XP points.

Matiks was founded by Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar and Sushant Timmapur, who are college friends. Bhatia, who has a background in competitive mental math, said he started working on the idea while at American Express, where he worked on an anti-money laundering strategy. “For the last 10 years, the platforms have made entertainment consumption easy, but much of it is brain slop,” Bhatia told TechCrunch. “We started exploring how we can make math-related games fun and entertaining like the other content.” He said the company wanted to make the app as entertaining as physical sports, so it opted for a dual format of practice and competition.

Most of Matiks’ players are in India, but the startup has seen traction in the U.S., South Korea and Japan, Bhatia said. It plans to add localization to grow the South Korean and Japanese markets. Matiks has 41 full-time employees. The company wants to use the funding to scale Jelo alongside its expansion into newer markets. Jelo faces competition from other game-creation platforms, including Google’s new platform Playground.

Rahul Humayan, a partner at General Catalyst, told TechCrunch in an email that the product’s pace of iteration and user engagement gave the firm encouraging signs. “We found the Matiks vision, product, and most importantly the community to be truly N of 1. The team’s product taste and pace of iteration made it a no-brainer,” he said. “The exceptional product love and power user behaviour are clear signs that the team is onto something special. We believe these are strong leading indicators for monetisation, with early results looking promising. The depth of engagement across surface areas like duels, social, Snacc, and now creation only helps.”

Editor's Summary

Matiks has raised $10 million in pre-Series A funding led by General Catalyst, bringing its total to more than $13.5 million. The company reported daily users rising to over 300,000 by September and plans to expand into new markets while scaling its Jelo user-created game platform. The round adds investor support as Matiks tests subscriptions and in-game purchases.