Driffle, the global digital gaming marketplace, today announced that it has raised $3.4 million in its seed round led by BEENEXT and other global investors, including JAFCO Asia, Taurus Ventures, Better Capital and White Venture Capital. Renowned angel investors Kunal Shah, Maninder Gulati, Amit Damani, Archana Priyadarshani, and Arun Venkatachalam, among others, also participated in this round.
With operations in India, the US, and the UK, Driffle is currently looking to add more people across product, engineering, marketing, and customer support in Gurgaon to cater to its growth. The team will invest the funds into hiring, strengthening its tech infrastructure, and product development, thereby accelerating its expansion to newer markets.
Driffle was founded in 2021 by a team of four passionate gamers – Chetan Bhardwaj, Gaurav Kumar Jha, Mayank Chawla, and Abhishek Kumar – whose aim was to create a seamless and safe gaming e-commerce experience after facing several challenges while purchasing games.
The global gaming market, expected to be worth $321 billion by 2026, witnesses a lack of quick, secure, and easy access to games, as well as the missing local payment options to purchase them. To fill this gap, Driffle creates a seamless experience for gamers by being the only digital gaming marketplace where games are delivered instantly in less than 10 seconds by providing an email address and fulfilling the payment process in local currencies via preferred payment methods (such as UPI in India). The platform sells games, digital gift cards, and gaming points for gamers.
Headquartered in Delaware and Bengaluru, Driffle currently is available in over 100 countries spanning South East Asia and Europe and accepts over 100 different currencies. This feature will continue to be an integral part of the platform as Driffle expands to new emerging markets.
Chetan Bhardwaj, Co-founder and CEO, Driffle, said, “With the ever-evolving digital transformation, today’s customers expect relevant content in relation to what they’re doing anytime, anywhere, and in the format and on the device of their choice. While some people still enjoy the physical shopping experience, many have embraced the simplicity of digital marketplaces which are faster, more convenient, secure, and many a time, more affordable. This shopping model is especially popular among gamers who transitioned from physical to digital media and are enjoying the shopping experience at digital marketplaces like ours at Driffle.”
“Being a team of gaming enthusiasts, we thoroughly understand the existing gaps in such marketplaces. At Driffle, we enable instant delivery of our goods digitally, with simplified payment processes, overcoming the complications of payment fraud and cross-border distribution. We are thrilled to have reputed investors backing us as we expand our presence globally with the aim to make gaming more secure and convenient like never before,” Bhardwaj added.
“Being a startup built by avid gamers, the Driffle team has identified a significant whitespace within the gaming industry. With their deep passion for problem-solving, the team is addressing customer experience, for buying digital goods, which has not been worked upon so far. Driffle offers the industry-demanded revamp and better customer experience for buyers and sellers internationally through their truly global model of business. We are very excited to partner with Driffle and thrilled to witness the exciting products the company has in the pipeline, including their peer-to-peer in-game assets trading marketplace, which has a large market globally,” says Anirudh Garg, Investor, BEENEXT.
“Emerging trends such as the growth of gaming as a category, the rise of digital payments, and the consequent rise in online fraud create a potential white space for a digital goods marketplace like Driffle that has real-time fraud detection in its DNA. With Chetan’s track record and Driffle’s current foundation in place, the co-founders are well-equipped to democratize the gaming experience for many through their 10-second check-out option and local payment integrations.” said Supriya Singh, Director & Head of South Asia Investments at JAFCO Asia.”
The gaming world is also plagued by digital fraud, data breaches, leaked information, and other such issues. At a time when reports suggest the suspected digital fraud rate for gaming grew globally by 68.6% between 2019–2021, Driffle brings security to gaming transactions. It is built in such a manner that there is little to no scope for fraud and highly minimised delay in the gamers getting access to the games they want. With their fast-moving goods, Driffle has limited the risk of payment fraud in digital goods.
