Local Game Studio Anantarupa Receives 47 Billion Rupiah Initial Funding from Greenwillow

Local game developer startup Anantarupa Studios announced the close of $3 million (over 47 billion Rupiah) seed funding. This round was led by the Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund, a VC from Singapore.

The fresh funds will be used to accelerate the regional expansion of Lokapala, a local MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game created by Anantarupa, and prepare the development of Lokapala IP/content. The signing of this investment was facilitated by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy as a form of the government's full support for the game industry and national intellectual property.

In an official statement, Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund Managing Partner Loh Wai Keong said, Anantarupa Studios developed the characters in Lokapala based on legendary knights in various historical and cultural treasures in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. These legendary warriors will resonate powerfully with the players here and form connections both emotionally and culturally.

According to him, Lokapala's unique game content can become a superior IP in other content industries that always need new content, such as comics, animation, films, other storytelling mediums, and merchandising and gamification of educational content.

"All of these sectors will certainly form a new IP-based creative economic force for Indonesia and other Southeast Asian regions, as well as being able to open up new jobs for millennials." he said.

Antarupa Studios CEO Ivan Chen said, in the ecosystem Esports, the business chain is centered on the main commodity, namely the games. It sees Lokapala as IP Indonesia having great potential to penetrate the global market.

"For this reason, we are also preparing for the development of IP Lokapala by collaborating with other sectors to produce comics, animation, films, music and merchandising. We hope that Lokapala can bring IP Indonesia to a higher level," said Ivan.

Game business potential

Ivan continued, quoting from the data he obtained, the games industry is the largest content or IP industry in the world, capable of contributing transactions of up to IDR 3.200 trillion in 2022. This amount is three times larger than the film industry in the world. According to research, 61% of total transactions in the mobile game industry will reach $136 billion by 2022, an increase of 170% faster than the growth of the industry as a whole.

This potential has attracted a number of well-known venture capitalists who are committed to investing Rp 12 trillion in 2023 for the gaming industry in Southeast Asia. Therefore, the game industry is expected to be able to obtain a significant portion of investment among other Southeast Asian countries.

Ivan has the ambition that Lokapala has a big chance to dominate the Southeast Asian market, considering that 90% of gamers in this region play games Esports. In fact, several countries in Southeast Asia have started to develop tourism Esports as a tourism program in his country because Esports become a medium of communication for the younger generation, crossing cultural and linguistic boundaries.

Currently, Anantarupa Studios is preparing a test server for the Southeast Asia region, as well as developing several game modes and new features, such as the Battle Pass and inter-regional matchmaking to accommodate cross-country players.

Lokapala is the IP of Anantarupa Studios and published by Dunia Games and Upoint Games. Game Esports This 5v5 MOBA genre prioritizes strategy and teamwork with a touch of Indonesian culture. Meanwhile, Anantarupa Studios was founded by Ivan Chen and Diana Paskarina in 2011, focusing on custom game business development, AR, VR, and other B2B services.

The company's vision is to become a leading IP developer in Indonesia, by elevating Indonesia's rich cultural heritage and introducing it to the global market. In 2018, the company transformed into a game company with the MOBA genre. His team has reached more than 80 people.