Krafton Inc, the South Korean gaming giant behind the global smash hit ‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), said on Monday that it had invested $5 million in the Indian dating app FRND.
The company said that the investment into FRND is part of a Series A round of funding worth $6.5 million that includes other investors, such as India Quotient and Elevation Capital.
Founded by three IIT Kanpur alumni – Bhanu Pratap Singh Tanwar, Hardik Bansal, and Harshvardhan Chhangani — FRND is a dating app that allows users to connect with each other through one-on-one voice chat while playing games.
It currently provides services in 10 Indian languages and plans to expand to more languages through the investment, according to Krafton.
“The security features and state-of-the-art algorithms make FRND just the right app for these next billion users to have a unique experience in a controlled way,” said Tanwar, CEO and co-founder of FRND.
FRND is currently available on the Google Play store, and an average user spends approximately 25 minutes each day using the app.
“This investment is aligned with our efforts to intensify our 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, said Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of India Division at Krafton.
