Digital Entertainment Startup Rusk Media Raises $9.5 Million In Series A Round Funding

Rusk Media Pvt Ltd, a producer of content for Gen Z audiences, has raised more than $9.5 million in an extended series A funding round. The new round was led by Seoul-based DAOL Investment and Audacity Ventures, with participation from previous investors InfoEdge Ventures (IEV), Mistry Ventures, and Survam Partners.

In the past three years, Rusk Media has raised a total of $12 million from investors, including Nazara Games and NODWIN games. While the business produces entertaining video content for its viewers, it is also developing a UGC-driven social gaming platform. The New Delhi-based company is well-known for its content and intellectual property on the social media platforms Alright! and Playground, which have over 500M+ monthly views, and for its television programmes on OTT platforms.

With platforms like Roblox becoming go-to locations for individuals in the 8-14 age group in the US and Southeast Asia, user-generated content (UGC) game creation is growing in popularity across the globe. Game developers will be able to produce games using freely accessible Rusk IP assets thanks to Rusk's platform.

We have faith in Rusk's competitiveness in IP creation spanning fiction, non-fiction, and e-sports entertainment, stated Chihoon Hyun, Partner at DAOL Investment and co-lead investor for the current round, in reference to our investment. As Korean investors, we have witnessed the enormous potential of locally produced premium content and the scalability of powerful IPs. With their intentions for their IPs and IP-led gaming platform, we think Rusk is well positioned to become a major player in the entertainment industry.

Playground, a gaming entertainment IP recently released by Rusk Media and NODWIN Gaming, was developed with some of India's biggest gaming entertainers, including CarryMinati, Triggered Insaan, ScoutOP, and Mortal. It attracted more than 200 million views, opening up a new area of the gaming entertainment industry. For the future version, the IP is scheduled for a global debut in December 2022 January 2023.

Entertainment has changed to include OTT shows, casual and AAA gaming, and 30-second snackable social videos as a result of the audiences' behavioural transition to digital natives. Mayank Yadav, CEO of Rusk Media, remarked "Our future ambitions include scaling our content with OTT partners using our IPs in India and other countries, with Playground serving as the global hub for our expansion. Building a UGC-led social gaming platform would, secondly, allow game developers to create games and distribute them on our platform utilising our game developer app, which will make use of blockchain technology,  he continued.