LightFury Games has raised $11 million in a Pre-Series A funding round, as the company accelerates development of its flagship AAA cricket title, eCricket. The round saw participation from leading investors including Blume, V3 Ventures, MIXI, and Times Internet, alongside strategic backing from prominent Indian cricketers.
Indian Cricket Stars Join as Strategic Investors
In a major endorsement for the studio, cricket icons such as MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya, along with Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma, and Sai Sudharsan, have joined the funding round as investors. Their involvement adds significant momentum to the company’s vision of building a globally competitive cricket gaming franchise.
Funding to Accelerate Development and Live Operations
The newly raised capital will be used to complete game development and strengthen live operations (live ops) capabilities. This includes building scalable infrastructure, content pipelines, and systems to support continuous updates and long-term player engagement post-launch.
Targeting a Massive Global Cricket Audience
With cricket boasting a global fan base of over 2.5 billion, LightFury aims to address a long-standing gap in the gaming market by delivering a high-quality, live-service-driven cricket experience. The company is positioning itself at the intersection of sports, gaming, and real-time engagement.
Built on Unreal Engine 5 with Realistic Gameplay
eCricket is being developed on Unreal Engine 5, offering a mobile-first, progression-driven experience. The game features physics-based gameplay, strategic batting and bowling systems, dynamic AI commentary, and broadcast-style presentation, ensuring each match feels unique.
Extensive Global Player Roster Licensed
Earlier, LightFury secured a global player roster license of over 600 professional cricketers, including stars like Chris Gayle, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson, Pat Cummins, Jos Buttler, Travis Head, and Andre Russell. This marks one of the largest licensed rosters in cricket gaming.
Positioned for India’s Growing Gaming Market
The global gaming industry is projected to surpass $400 billion, while India’s gaming market is expected to reach nearly $9.89 billion by 2031. LightFury Games is positioning itself as a key player in India’s emergence as a global game development hub, backed by strong technical infrastructure and creative capabilities.
Building a Global-Scale Cricket Gaming Experience
With eCricket slated for release in 2026, LightFury aims to create a definitive cricket gaming franchise from India, combining AAA production quality with live-service innovation and athlete-backed credibility.
Leadership Quotes
“India has long been one of the world’s biggest gaming markets. Yet it has not been able to build a truly world-class AAA sports title. With eCricket, we want to change that. We are building from India for the world, with a very high bar on quality, deep competitive gameplay, and true-to-sport authenticity. This partnership ensures that we deliver on that vision and bring eCricket to fans soon in 2026. For us, this is much bigger than a game launch. It is about proving that India can build premium gaming IPs for the world, and not just play it.” says Karan Shroff, Co-Founder & CEO, LightFury Games.
On what stood out to him about this collaboration, MS Dhoni said, “I’ve seen a lot of cricket games over the years, and there’s always been something missing. When LightFury showed me what they were working on, I felt they were trying to close that gap. It’s a big undertaking, building something like this out of India for a global audience. I’m here to contribute what I can from my time in the game, and make sure the details hold up. The rest is up to them, and from what I’ve seen, they’ll do a good job.”
Speaking about the challenge of capturing the depth of cricket in a game, Jasprit Bumrah who is exclusively managed by RISE Worldwide, added, “Cricket is a game of fine margins, and that’s what stood out to me about eCricket. The focus on detail and authenticity is impressive. I’m happy to back a team that is thinking deeply about the sport and building something meaningful from India.”
Sharing his perspective on cricket’s scale and fan energy, Hardik Pandya said, “Cricket is pressure, skill, and entertainment all at once. Fans want to feel that energy. What excites me about eCricket is that it is not trying to make cricket smaller for gaming. It is trying to make gaming rise to the scale of cricket. That is a bold idea, and I was very excited when the LightFury team approached me to be a part of the game.”
“We’ve backed LightFury from inception, in their mission to pioneer a new generation of Indian gaming studios, building IPs with global ambition. Building a AAA game is neither easy nor quick – it takes sustained creative excellence, deep technical expertise, and long-term discipline. 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. Supercharged by natively built AI tools, we are excited for the world to experience eCricket very soon. We would like it to be the Dhurandhar of Indian gaming history,” said Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Blume Ventures.
Arjun Vaidya, Managing Partner of V3 Ventures, added, “I’m a die-hard cricket fan, and 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. That is the gap. What gives us confidence is not just the size of the market, but the quality of gameplay, overall experience and player associations that LightFury has been building behind the scenes with real intent. 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. We’re excited to back LightFury as they work to build an impactful, category-defining global title and give our favourite sport the game it deserves.”
Also read – Deep Algorithms Raises ₹16 Crore in Pre-Series A Round Led by Unicorn India Ventures
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