Team Startupcity

·  Google’s AI Futures Fund and Japanese gaming giants back STAN’s latest round

·  Funds to boost AI personalisation, creator monetisation tools, and global expansion

·  Platform has grown 25x in 2 years, aiming to build India’s next billion-dollar social startup

India-headquartered social gaming platform STAN has raised $8.5 million in a new funding round supported by international gaming giants and technology majors.

The round was attended by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., Square Enix, Reazon Holdings, and Google's AI Futures Fund, as well as Aptos Labs. Existing investors General Catalyst, GFR Fund, T-Accelerate Capital, and Pix Capital also participated in the round.

With this funding, STAN will expand its presence in India and other mobile-first economies, build further AI-powered personalisation, deploy next-generation creator tooling, and launch new integration capabilities for publishers and brand partners looking to reach gaming-driven communities.

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Launched with a mission to enable creators and re-imagine social gaming, STAN empowers monetisation with functionalities such as shoutouts, subscriptions, and brand activations. It also provides native channels of distribution for publishers fueled by community interaction.

"Today's gaming is not only about play  it's identity, talk, and community," stated Parth Chadha, Co-founder and CEO, STAN. "We have designed STAN with India as the pulse and our users at the centre.". In a span of only two years, we've grown 25x organically through product-led growth. This is just the start  we're working towards creating the next billion-dollar social company out of India, and we're doing it the only way we know how: fast, agile, and user-centric."

David Benjamin, Google's AI Futures Fund Co-founder, expressed his excitement: 

STAN's mission to empower creators and mobilize fan communities through innovative, responsible AI resonates deeply with our values. We're thrilled to have them join the AI Futures Fund and work together to make their ambitious visions a reality.

Supported by global giants and powered by India's booming mobile-first culture, STAN is poised to become a top player in the confluence of gaming, community, and creator economy.