Mumbai: LVL Zero, a gaming incubator backed by MIXI Global Investments, Nazara Technologies, and Chimera VC, hosted its inaugural Demo Day at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru, on 21 July, 2026. It brought together investors, publishers, ecosystem partners, mentors, and industry leaders to witness the next generation of Indian game development startups.
The event marked the culmination of LVL Zero’s 100-day execution-focussed incubation programme, during which ten startups worked closely with mentors, industry experts, publishers, and ecosystem partners to refine their products, strengthen their business strategies, and prepare for market expansion, publishing opportunities, and fundraising conversations. Each selected startup also received a USD 10,000 equity-free grant to support product development during the program.
Selected from more than 240 applications received from across the country, the inaugural cohort represented a diverse mix of game development studios building across PC, console, and mobile platforms. The startups showcased projects spanning narrative adventures, strategy games, sandbox experiences, cooperative puzzle titles, psychological horror and experimental gameplay concepts.
Throughout the day-long event, founders from all ten startups presented their products, development journeys, business strategies, and future growth plans to an audience comprising investors, publishers, gaming companies, and ecosystem stakeholders.
The event saw participation from representatives across leading gaming companies, platforms, publishers, and investment firms, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Krafton, Roblox, Unity, Google, Elevation Capital, Blume Ventures, India Quotient, Yale University Endowment Fund, PhonePe’s Indus Appstore, Venture Catalysts, Accel, and AppsFlyer, among others. Their presence reflected the growing interest in India’s emerging game development ecosystem and the next generation of studios building for global audiences.
The cohort included Kyrel Games, Trojan Productions, Wrought Studios, Impulse Mechanics, YK Game Studio, Arckon Arts, Xigma Games, Prescription Studios, Rudrac Games, and KALP Studio, reflecting the growing breadth of India’s game development ecosystem.
Speaking at the event, Tomoharu Urabe, MD Investments, MIXI Global Investments, said, “LVL Zero was created with a simple belief that India has extraordinary game development talent, and the ecosystem needs stronger platforms to help that talent reach global markets. Over the last 100 days, we’ve seen founders refine their products, sharpen their business thinking, and take meaningful steps toward building globally competitive studios. What makes this especially exciting is that LVL Zero is not just supporting individual startups, it is helping strengthen the broader game development ecosystem. Demo Day is a reflection of what can happen when founders, mentors, investors, publishers, and ecosystem partners come together with a shared vision of building the future of gaming.”
The incubator was designed to address a key challenge within India’s gaming ecosystem: helping talented developers transition from building games to building sustainable companies. Over the course of the program, startups received mentorship, strategic guidance, ecosystem access, and execution support aimed at accelerating their journey toward commercial readiness.
Speaking about the progress demonstrated by the cohort, Deepak MV, Head of Strategy, Nazara Technologies, said: “When we launched LVL Zero, our objective was not simply to support game development, but to help founders improve their ability to execute. Over the course of the program, we’ve seen remarkable progress across the cohort, from stronger products and clearer go-to-market strategies to a deeper understanding of studio building and long-term growth. India has no shortage of talent or creativity; what has often been missing is structured support, mentorship, and access to the right networks. Seeing the transformation of these startups over the last 100 days reinforces our belief that initiatives like LVL Zero can play an important role in building a sustainable pipeline of globally competitive gaming companies from India.”
The Demo Day also highlighted broader trends emerging across the Indian gaming ecosystem. A significant proportion of participating startups are building for PC and console audiences, signaling growing ambitions among Indian developers to create globally competitive gaming experiences beyond traditional mobile-first models.
Since its launch, LVL Zero has focused on providing founders with access across five critical pillars of growth: capital, knowledge, talent, distribution, and global expansion opportunities. Through partnerships with industry stakeholders and a global mentor network, the incubator seeks to create long-term infrastructure for game developers building from India.
Commenting on the significance of the inaugural cohort, Krish Anurag, Managing Partner, Chimera VC and Founding Partner, LVL Zero, said: “One of the key goals behind LVL Zero was to help game developers think beyond individual titles and start building long-term, scalable companies. Over the last 100 days, founders have worked closely with mentors, industry experts, publishers, and investors to strengthen not only their games but also their business fundamentals. The diversity of projects showcased today across PC, console, mobile, narrative, strategy, and multiplayer experiences highlights the depth of talent emerging from India. More importantly, it demonstrates that Indian studios are increasingly building with global ambition from day one. We believe this is just the beginning of a much larger opportunity for India to establish itself as a meaningful contributor to the global game development ecosystem.”
The inaugural Demo Day also served as a platform for connecting startups with potential publishing, investment, and partnership opportunities as they move into the next phase of growth.
According to FICCI-EY’s recent Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2026, Indian studios with globally successful titles generated between $0.8 billion and $1.2 billion in revenue during 2025-26, with 40% to over 90% of their earnings coming from international markets. The report projects India to emerge as a global game development and export hub through both original IP creation and as a development center for international gaming companies, with global revenues from games built in India expected to grow at 20-30% annually to reach between $2.8 billion and $4.8 billion annually by 2028-29.
As India continues to grow into one of the world’s largest gaming markets, LVL Zero aims to support more than 100 gaming startups over the next five years. LVL Zero is helping equip the next generation of Indian studios with the mentorship, networks, and execution support needed to capitalise on this opportunity and build globally successful game businesses.
