India-based social gaming startup Matiks has raised $10 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by General Catalyst as it prepares to expand internationally and develop new AI-powered gaming experiences. The round also included entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures. The company plans to use the capital to strengthen its product, introduce more games and launch a platform that allows users to create and publish brain games without writing code.
Founded in 2024, Matiks focuses on competitive games built around mathematics, memory, logic and puzzles. The startup is seeking to turn these activities into a social entertainment category where users can challenge friends, compete against other players and build communities. Its latest funding comes as the company reports growing engagement, including 2.2 million people playing 48 million games on the platform in September 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Funding: Matiks raised $10 million in a pre-Series A round led by General Catalyst.
- Investors: Ronnie Screwvala, Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures also participated.
- User growth: The company reported 2.2 million players and 48 million games played in September 2026.
- Daily engagement: Matiks said its daily active users exceeded 300,000 by September.
- AI initiative: The startup plans to enable users to create and publish their own brain games without coding.
- Expansion plans: Matiks intends to prioritize the US market before expanding further internationally.
Matiks Raises $10 Million in Pre-Series A Funding
Matiks announced the $10 million funding round on October 26, 2026. General Catalyst led the investment, with participation from Ronnie Screwvala and existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures.
The funding will support three main priorities: international expansion, investment in new games and social experiences, and development of an AI-powered game creation platform.
According to YourStory, the startup plans to increase investment across engineering, AI, product, design, game development and growth. It also intends to strengthen creator partnerships and global distribution.
The round gives Matiks additional capital to scale its product as it seeks to build a larger audience beyond India. The company has already reported early engagement in markets including the United States, Japan and South Korea.
What Is Matiks and How Does Its Gaming Platform Work?
Matiks is a social gaming platform centered on mental skills rather than conventional action or battle-based gameplay. Users can participate in games involving arithmetic, memory, logic and puzzles, competing against other players or practicing independently.
The platform combines short gaming sessions with competitive features designed to encourage repeat participation. These include head-to-head duels, daily challenges, quests, streaks and points that users can earn as they progress.
The company’s broader ambition is to make mental games more engaging by combining competition with social interaction. Instead of treating puzzles as isolated activities, Matiks aims to create an environment where users can challenge friends, improve their performance and participate in a wider community.
Its approach targets a different kind of mobile entertainment experience. The games are designed to be accessible in short sessions, while competitive mechanics give players reasons to return and improve their results.
Matiks was founded in 2024 by Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar and Sushant Timmapur. Bhatia’s background in competitive mental mathematics helped shape the company’s initial focus on making brain-based games more entertaining and accessible.
Matiks Reports 2.2 Million Players in September 2026
User engagement is a central part of Matiks’ growth story.
According to figures reported by TechCrunch, the platform’s daily active users grew from approximately 22,000 earlier in 2026 to more than 300,000 by September.
The company also reported the following activity for September:
| Metric | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Players during September 2026 | 2.2 million |
| Games played during September | 48 million |
| Daily active users by September | More than 300,000 |
| Founding year | 2024 |
| New funding round | $10 million |
| Funding stage | Pre-Series A |
These figures were reported by the company and do not independently establish long-term retention or profitability. However, they suggest that Matiks has built an audience for competitive brain games and is generating substantial activity relative to its age.
The next challenge is turning that engagement into a sustainable business. Gaming platforms typically need to balance user growth with monetization, retention and the cost of developing fresh content.
Matiks has begun testing a subscription offering that provides additional features such as game analysis, tips, practice tools and other benefits. It also offers certain in-game purchases. How these revenue streams develop will help determine whether the company can translate its user base into durable revenue.
AI-Powered Game Creation Platform to Let Users Build Games Without Coding
A major part of Matiks’ expansion strategy is its planned AI-powered game creation engine.
The platform is intended to let users build, publish and share their own brain games without needing programming skills. Instead of relying entirely on games developed by Matiks’ internal team, the company wants to make game creation accessible to its users.
This approach could increase the variety of games available on the platform while encouraging creators to bring their own ideas to the community.
For example, a user might want to create a number puzzle, a memory challenge or a new logic-based competition. An AI-assisted creation system could help turn that idea into a playable experience, although the final capabilities will depend on the tools Matiks releases.
The startup has also introduced an experimental game-creation platform called Jelo, according to TechCrunch. The company plans to develop this area further as part of its broader effort to combine social gaming with user-generated content.
The strategy reflects a wider trend in consumer technology: AI tools are lowering the technical barriers to creating digital products. If Matiks can make its creation tools intuitive and reliable, users could become contributors to the platform rather than only consumers of its games.
General Catalyst Backs Matiks’ Social Gaming Strategy
General Catalyst led the latest funding round, indicating investor interest in Matiks’ approach to competitive brain games and social entertainment.
The startup is entering a market where mobile games compete not only with other gaming apps but also with social networks, short-form video and other forms of digital entertainment.
Matiks’ strategy is to differentiate itself through active participation. Players are encouraged to solve problems, compete with friends and improve their performance instead of simply consuming an endless feed of content.
For investors, the opportunity depends on whether that activity can support a large, loyal community and eventually generate meaningful revenue.
The company will need to maintain engagement while expanding its catalogue of games and improving its monetization strategy. Its AI-powered creation platform could help address the content challenge, but it will also need effective moderation and quality controls to ensure user-generated games deliver a consistent experience.
Matiks Plans International Expansion, Starting With the US
Matiks intends to use the funding to grow beyond its core Indian audience. According to YourStory, the company plans to prioritize the United States before expanding into other major markets.
The startup has already reported early engagement in the US, Japan and South Korea. Its expansion strategy includes localization, product development and increased investment in global distribution.
Entering international markets will require more than making the app available in additional countries. Matiks will need to understand local gaming preferences, adapt its experience to different languages and build awareness among new audiences.
Competition is another consideration. Established mobile gaming companies have large user bases and significant marketing resources. Matiks will need to show that its combination of mental games, social competition and AI-assisted creation can attract users consistently across different markets.
The new funding gives the company more resources to test those opportunities, but the outcome will depend on execution and its ability to retain users as it scales.
The Bigger Picture
Matiks’ fundraising highlights investor interest in gaming experiences built around active participation, social interaction and user-generated content. The startup is attempting to turn mathematics, memory and puzzles into a broader entertainment category rather than positioning them solely as educational exercises.
AI-powered game creation could become an important part of that strategy by helping the platform add content without depending entirely on an internal development team. It could also give users a stronger reason to participate, share creations and build communities around their games.
However, user growth alone will not determine the company’s long-term success. Matiks must demonstrate that engagement can translate into sustainable monetization while maintaining game quality and expanding into competitive international markets. The $10 million round provides capital for that next stage, but the execution of its product and expansion plans will be the real test.
FAQs
1. How much funding has Matiks raised?
Matiks raised $10 million in a pre-Series A funding round announced on October 26, 2026. General Catalyst led the round.
2. Who invested in Matiks?
The round included General Catalyst, entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and existing investors Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners and Untitled Ventures.
3. What does Matiks do?
Matiks operates a social gaming platform featuring mathematics, memory, logic and puzzle games. Users can compete against other players, complete challenges and participate in other game formats.
4. How will Matiks use the new funding?
The company plans to expand internationally, develop new games and social experiences, invest in its technology and launch an AI-powered platform that lets users create and publish brain games without coding.
5. What are Matiks’ user numbers?
The company reported 2.2 million players and 48 million games played in September 2026. It also said daily active users had exceeded 300,000 by that month.
Looking Ahead
Matiks will use its new capital to test whether its social brain-game format can attract and retain users at a much larger scale. International expansion, additional game formats and an AI-powered creation platform are central to that plan. Its ability to localize the product and maintain engagement outside India will be important milestones.
The startup’s longer-term opportunity lies in combining gaming, social competition and AI-assisted content creation in a single platform. If users embrace creating games as well as playing them, Matiks could broaden its content offering and strengthen its community. Its progress on retention, monetization and international growth will help determine whether that vision can become a sustainable business.
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