Key Points
- LightFury Games raises $11 million in Pre-Series A funding round
- MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya among investor cricketers
- Studio building eCricket game for mobile release in 2026
Indian gaming studio LightFury Games has raised $11 million, approximately ₹92 crore, in a Pre-Series A funding round backed by cricketers including MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. The Bengaluru-based company announced the investment on Thursday, with funds earmarked to complete development of its debut title eCricket, a high-end mobile game scheduled for release in 2026.
The investment marks a rare instance of professional athletes backing an Indian game development studio at an early stage. Beyond the cricketers, institutional investors in the round include Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, Japanese gaming company MIXI and Times Internet. Other cricketers participating as investors include Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan.
LightFury Games describes itself as a AAA-focused studio, a term used in the gaming industry to describe titles with the highest development budgets and production values, comparable to blockbuster films. The 100-member team is building what it calls a technically advanced cricket game designed for competitive online play with continuous content updates after launch.
Funding to Support Game Development and Operations
The company said the capital will primarily fund completion of game development and strengthen its live operations capabilities. Live ops, short for live operations, refers to the infrastructure and systems that keep online games running after release, delivering new content, managing servers and maintaining player engagement over time.
Cricket commands an estimated global audience of over 2.5 billion, according to the company. LightFury aims to address what it sees as a gap in sports gaming, where cricket lacks a technically advanced title comparable to those available for football or basketball.
Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Blume Ventures, said the firm had backed LightFury from its inception. “Building a AAA game is neither easy nor quick. It takes sustained creative excellence, deep technical expertise, and long-term discipline,” Reddy said. “In LightFury, we’ve seen a team come together from different parts of the world, with a shared passion and incredible attention to detail, depth and creativity.”
Opportunity in Cricket Gaming Gap
Arjun Vaidya, Managing Partner of V3 Ventures, pointed to the absence of a definitive cricket video game as the core opportunity. “Today it is one of the biggest sports in the world. Yet it still does not have a definitive game in the way football, basketball or American football do,” Vaidya said.
“Cricket is a uniquely complex sport, and its place at the intersection of culture, community and technology for nearly a quarter of the world’s population makes the opportunity around eCricket even more exciting,” he added.
The global gaming market is projected to exceed $400 billion in the coming years, according to industry estimates cited by the company. India’s gaming market specifically is expected to reach $9.89 billion by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.55 per cent between 2026 and 2031. CAGR measures the average annual growth rate of an investment or market over a specified period.
LightFury Games said it has spent the past two years building core development capabilities, infrastructure and analytics systems to support continuous content delivery and player engagement after launch. The studio aims to position itself as part of India’s emergence as a global game development hub.
The company stated it is building eCricket with a focus on competitive gameplay and authenticity to the sport. The game is scheduled for release on mobile platforms in 2026.
Your Questions, Answered
How much funding did LightFury Games raise?
LightFury Games raised $11 million, approximately ₹92 crore, in its Pre-Series A funding round announced on 23 April 2026.
Which cricketers invested in LightFury Games?
MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan invested in the gaming studio.
What game is LightFury Games developing?
The studio is developing eCricket, a AAA cricket game for mobile platforms scheduled for release in 2026.
Who are the institutional investors in LightFury Games?
Institutional investors include Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, Japanese gaming company MIXI and Times Internet.
