How Mech Mocha's Arpita Kapoor Is Trying To Transform The Indian Gaming Scene

Mech Mocha is a Bangalore-based mobile gaming start-up with an ambitious vision of ‘Making India Play!’ The startup has recently raised $6 million from top-tier investors Accel Partners, Blume Ventures and Shunwei Capital. At the helm of the company is CEO and Co-founder Arpita Kapoor, who is harnessing the smartphone revolution by creating high-quality video games which are tailor-made for the Indian audience.

Kapoor grew up in a grew up in a village called Pihani near Lucknow. She moved to Delhi for her high school and then joined IIIT Gwalior for bachelors and MBA. She says, “Startups always intrigued me and Mohit (Head of Games) - we attempted a food startup in college, saw it was very operational and decided to move to a more product focussed startup. We loved playing games, we had worked in games during college, and we were IGDA (International game developers Association) scholars and thus were exposed to the space.”

Mech Mocha happened when the founders saw the massive growth in smartphones and the gap in the number of companies building games specifically for the Indian market. 

Mech Mocha happened when the founders saw the massive growth in smartphones and the gap in the number of companies building games specifically for the Indian market. Kapoor works every day towards making Mech Mocha a fun workplace. So, the inevitable challenge is not just to hire the right people but also let go of the ones that don’t fit their culture.

“It is very exciting for the team to see that investors are also getting aligned to their vision. Now that we have two of the most experienced partners from the industry, we naturally are very excited.”

There are two core areas where Mech Mocha will invest.

She explains, “We are building an integrated platform with capabilities in behavioural analytics, multiplayer, LiveOps and monetisation. We will be launching new mobile-gaming titles across the casual and mid-core gaming categories, targeted at the Indian audience.”

In entrepreneurship, the joy is so much more than the hurdles. Every day is new, every day is unknown, every day is a challenge.

Kapoor finds entrepreneurship empowering because you can embrace unknowability and commit to a few big things and continue to work on them. The joy is so much more than the hurdles. Every day is new, every day is unknown, every day is a challenge.

But how does one maintain work-life balance in this profession?

“I cook and I have a dog! Both these things help me destress. I go back home and cook when I am having a long hard day. Yoda - my dog is always in Mech Mocha office, cheering everyone up including me every day!”

The entrepreneur hopes that the gaming industry in India will equip itself with better payment infrastructure and also launch better games in the market. She anticipates more and more people making the career choice of getting into game design and art.

And when it comes to her company, she adds, “I want to see us make innovative games that are loved by millions of Indian and I see myself orchestrating each and every part of it. And of course, I want two more dogs.”

Read More by Amrita Paul