BGMI creator Krafton leads $6.5 million funding round in FRND app

Pune: Bengaluru-based audio romance and friend discovery startup FRND has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding round led by South Korean online gaming major Krafton Inc., the maker of Battlegrounds Mobile India—the local version of the popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile.

Existing investors India Quotient and Elevation Capital also participated in the fundraising.

Founded in April 2019 by IIT Kanpur alumni Bhanu Pratap Singh Tanwar, Hardik Bansal and Harshvardhan Chhangani, FRND is a first-of-its-kind dating app that allows young people to connect with each other through live-streamed formats like FRND Dating and audio games, with a focus on creating a one-on-one connection.

“There is a huge untapped opportunity in the Indian romance market, where youngsters connect and interact with the opposite gender over the internet,” FRND CEO Tanwar said. “We have been working towards providing a safer platform to the Indian youth, especially girls.”

“With this funding we are looking at growing FRND from the current 10 Indian languages, strengthening our technology ecosystem and increasing our footprint both within India and internationally,” he said.

Sean Hyunil Sohn, head of India division at Krafton Inc., said the investment is aligned with their efforts to intensify their commitment to the startup ecosystem in India.

“FRND is a unique product that is disrupting an entire category with a unique local solution that global companies will find tough to adapt to,” he said. “We see great potential in this high volume transaction digital startup and are happy to invest in their growth story. We are driven to make a difference to the digital ecosystem in this country and will continue exploring more such opportunities where we can back young and growing startups.”

Earlier, Krafton had said that
it was setting aside $100 million to invest in the Indian startup ecosystem. Other ventures it has invested in include
Nodwin Gaming,
Loco and
Pratilipi.

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