Lila Games is a Bengaluru-based free-to-play mobile shooter studio founded in 2020 by former 4X-strategy game veterans, with US-based co-founders and an India development team.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Lila Games does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Lila Games in Brief

• What it is: Lila Games is an Indian Mobile games / free-to-play shooter company based in Bengaluru.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Builds a free-to-play mobile first-person shooter, first codenamed Project B.L.A.C.K., aimed at creating a new shooter sub-genre
• Targets late teens and adults in their early 20s
• Plans monetization beyond the common battle-pass approach, drawing on 4X games and Supercell-style design
• Funding: About $12.8 million across two rounds.

Lila Games Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Lila Games?

Lila Games operates in the Mobile games / free-to-play shooter space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Lila Games.

• Builds a free-to-play mobile first-person shooter, first codenamed Project B.L.A.C.K., aimed at creating a new shooter sub-genre
• Targets late teens and adults in their early 20s
• Plans monetization beyond the common battle-pass approach, drawing on 4X games and Supercell-style design
• Aims to add social features that make players well known in the community

The Origin Story of Lila Games

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Joseph Kim, Paul Leydon, Avinash Pandey.
• Co-founder Joseph Kim was formerly chief product officer at Sega and studio lead at FunPlus, and led King of Avalon
• Co-founder Paul Leydon previously worked at FunPlus and Machine Zone on Game of War: Fire Age
• Avinash Pandey is India-based and has led development on over 50 mobile apps and games
• Most founders are in the US while the home base is Bangalore; CEO said the company is betting on India's cost structure but not targeting the Indian market

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Mobile games / free-to-play shooter sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2020: Founded
• Nov 2020: $2.8 million seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures
• Mar 2022: $10 million Series A led by Rainfall
• Funds earmarked for building first title and an India-based team

Lila Games Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• Nov 2020: about $2.8 million seed (some sources say $3 million), led by BITKRAFT Ventures with Galaxy Interactive and angels including Mike Sherrill, Kristian Segerstrale and Ludovic Bodin
• Mar 2022: $10 million Series A led by Rainfall with BITKRAFT Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Sequoia Capital, Krafton; angels include Ryan Wyatt, Tanay Tayal, Thomas Vu; lead attribution differs between outlets

How Does Lila Games Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Free-to-play mobile shooter with in-game monetization
• Details of revenue model not disclosed; one database lists revenue speculatively

The Numbers: Lila Games Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY22 revenue about Rs 3.4 crore with profit after tax about Rs 23 lakh (older data)
• FY25 revenue listed at about Rs 11.6 crore by one database; no profit figure found
• A different database claims 2025 revenue of $32.9 million and calls it a bootstrapped SaaS company, which conflicts with the funding reports and looks like a misclassification

Market Opportunity for Lila Games

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Mobile shooters described as the fastest-growing segment over the past 3-4 years and a genre with large organic audiences

Technology and Product at Lila Games

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Mobile shooter with a mode distinct from battle royale and team deathmatch (founder interview)

Team and Culture at Lila Games

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Joseph Kim is CEO and co-founder
• Paul Leydon and Avinash Pandey are co-founders

Lila Games Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Lila Games

• Pre-launch or early-stage product with no confirmed revenue
• Crowded shooter market
• Limited public financial data and conflicting database figures
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Lila Games Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Backing from Krafton, Sequoia and others gives funding runway for product development
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Lila Games can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Lila Games Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Lila Games

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Lila Games.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Lila Games

Studying a company in the Mobile games / free-to-play shooter space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Lila Games.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Lila Games as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Lila Games name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Lila Games is part of India’s growing Mobile games / free-to-play shooter ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Lila Games FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Lila Games?

LILA Games is a Bengaluru-based free-to-play mobile shooter studio founded in 2020 by former 4X-strategy game veterans, with US-based co-founders and an India development team. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Lila Games?

Lila Games was founded by Joseph Kim, Paul Leydon, Avinash Pandey, and the company reports a founding year of 2020.

How much funding has Lila Games raised?

About $12.8 million across two rounds. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Lila Games make money?

Lila Games earns revenue from its Mobile games / free-to-play shooter products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Lila Games?

Reported rivals include Pixonic, Critical Force, Nitro Games. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Lila Games?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.