In one of the most interesting developments in D2C startup news, maths-focussed gaming platform Matiks has raised $3.14 million (about INR 27 crore) in its pre-Series A funding round led by Tanglin Ventures, with participation from Info Edge Ventures and marquee angel investors including boAt’s Aman Gupta, Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, and Scapia’s Anil Goteti. The round, reflecting strong confidence in India’s new-age D2C brands India, will help the company accelerate hiring, strengthen marketing initiatives, scale product offerings, and drive international expansion.
Founded in September 2024 by Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar, and Sushant Timmapur, Matiks is among the latest D2C startups reimagining India’s online gaming market with a differentiated focus on mathematics-led gameplay. The platform offers interactive mobile games where users can test mathematical skills across categories such as speed, puzzles, logic, and memory. With less than 20 employees today, the company already claims around one lakh active users, signaling early traction in a market known for rapid D2C revenue growth.
Unlike traditional real money gaming, which has faced regulatory challenges following the Online Gaming Bill 2025, Matiks has positioned itself as a skill-driven, engagement-led platform. Users can compete with peers, join weekly contests, and even participate in its newly launched paid “Creators Programme,” which allows community building directly on the app. Beyond the core app—available on iOS, Google Play Store, and the web—Matiks has also developed a growing Discord community to strengthen user retention. The platform recently crossed 50,000 downloads on the Play Store, a key milestone for a VC-backed D2C brand at this stage.
The company’s D2C expansion plans include ramping up its offerings to reach wider geographies and integrating new game modes to appeal to both students and casual gamers. The startup will channel a significant portion of the capital towards product innovation, positioning itself for category leadership as skill-based edutainment grows in popularity. This reflects broader D2C market trends 2025, where brands blending education, entertainment, and technology are gaining strong investor interest.
With India’s gaming industry currently valued at $3.8 billion and projected to hit $9.2 billion by FY29, Matiks is stepping into a high-growth segment at the right time. Importantly, while giants like Dream11, MPL, and Games24x7 were heavily reliant on real money gaming, the regulatory pivot has opened the door for sustainable D2C brands like Matiks to dominate skill-driven alternatives. This positions the startup not only as a fastest-growing D2C brand in the edutainment space but also as a potential future candidate in the D2C IPO news cycle if it sustains its momentum.
For investors, Matiks represents the intersection of D2C funding news, innovation-led gameplay, and consumer behavior shifts. By targeting a niche that blends learning and fun, the company is creating a new category within direct-to-consumer India, one that could inspire more creator-led D2C brands in gaming and beyond. As the demand for meaningful, regulation-friendly gaming experiences grows, Matiks is well on its way to becoming one of the best performing D2C brands FY25, reinforcing its place in the D2C ecosystem India and among the top D2C brand building stories of the year.
