Bengaluru-based social gaming startup Matiks has raised $10 million (Rs 95.1 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by General Catalyst. The two-year-old startup runs a platform where users play and compete in games built around mathematics, memory, logic and puzzles.
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upGrad founder Ronnie Screwvala also joined the round, along with existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures.
The new round is roughly three times the size of the $3.14 million pre-Series A round Matiks raised in August 2025. With this round, the startup has raised more than $13.5 million in funding so far.
Where the money will go
Matiks said it will use the capital to expand internationally, build new games and social experiences, and increase spending on engineering, AI, product, design, game development and growth. It will also scale creator partnerships and global distribution.
A part of the funds will go into an AI-powered game creation engine that will let users build, publish and share brain games in several formats without writing code.
The startup expects user-generated games to widen the range of titles on the platform. It has already launched an experimental version of this, called Jelo, which reportedly competes with tools such as Google’s Playground.
It plans to prioritise the US before entering other tier-one markets. Most of its players are in India, but it has seen early engagement in Japan, the US and South Korea, and reportedly plans to localise the app for the Korean and Japanese markets.
“We started Matiks with a simple belief: using your brain can be just as fun and addictive as any other form of entertainment,” said Sudhanshu Bhatia, co-founder and CEO of Matiks.
“Our ambition is to make mind sports as culturally relevant as physical sports and esports – giving mental athletes, puzzlers, and competitive players the visibility, communities, and recognition they deserve. With AI, we want anyone, anywhere in the world, to create a brain game that millions can play. We are not trying to get people off their phones; we are trying to give them something better to do on them,” he added.
The founders and the business model
Matiks was founded in September 2024 by Bhatia, Mohan Kumar and Sushant Timmapur, who are college friends. Bhatia has a background in competitive mental maths and started working on the idea while at American Express, where he worked on anti-money laundering strategy.
On the app, users play against bots or other players, take up challenges and quests, earn points and keep streaks going. Users can add friends, and the platform has run weekly contests to drive engagement.
The startup has so far focused on growing its user base over making money. It earns from in-game purchases such as challenge skips and XP boosts, and this month it began testing a subscription that unlocks game analysis, tips and tricks, practice and other features.
India’s gaming market is projected to grow from $5.02 billion in 2026 to $9.89 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of about 14.5%, according to Mordor Intelligence. Mobile accounted for about 79% of the market in 2025, the research firm said.
