General Catalyst Bets $10 Million on Matiks' Brain Games Push

Bengaluru social gaming startup Matiks has raised $10 million (Rs 95.1 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by General Catalyst, tripling its previous raise as it prepares to push into the United States.

UpGrad founder Ronnie Screwvala joined the round, alongside existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures. The new round is roughly three times the $3.14 million pre-Series A that Matiks raised in August 2025. Total funding now exceeds $13.5 million — a fast pile of cash for a company founded in September 2024.

What does the money buy?

Matiks said it will spend the capital on international expansion, new games and social experiences, and heavier investment in engineering, AI, product, design, game development and growth. It also plans to scale creator partnerships and global distribution.

A slice of the funding will go into an AI-powered game creation engine that lets users build, publish and share brain games in multiple formats without writing code. The startup has already launched an experimental version, called Jelo, which reportedly competes with tools such as Google's Playground. The stated logic: user-generated games widen the range of titles on the platform. Whether enough users want to build puzzle games, rather than just play them, remains untested at scale.

Why the US first?

Matiks plans to prioritise the US before entering other tier-one markets. Most of its players are in India today, but the company has seen early engagement in Japan, the US and South Korea, and reportedly plans to localise the app for the Korean and Japanese markets.

The platform lets users play and compete in games built around mathematics, memory, logic and puzzles. Players face bots or other humans, 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.

Who is behind it?

Co-founders Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar and Sushant Timmapur are college friends who started the company in September 2024. Bhatia has a background in competitive mental maths and began working on the idea while at American Express, where he worked on anti-money laundering strategy.

"We started Matiks with a simple belief: using your brain can be just as fun and addictive as any other form of entertainment," said Bhatia, who serves as CEO.

"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," he added. "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."

Can it make money?

The startup has so far prioritised growing its user base over revenue. It earns from in-game purchases such as challenge skips and XP boosts. This month it began testing a subscription that unlocks game analysis, tips and tricks, practice and other features.

That monetisation is still young, and Matiks disclosed no user numbers, revenue figures or retention data alongside the raise — the metrics investors typically price against remain private.

The backdrop, at least, favours the bet. 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. The research firm said mobile accounted for roughly 79% of the market in 2025.

In plain terms: the sector nearly doubles over five years, and nearly four of every five dollars already flow through phones — Matiks' home turf. Whether a brain-games niche can claim a durable share of it, against far larger casual-gaming incumbents, is the question the next round will have to answer.