India-based gaming company Matiks has secured $10 million in pre-Series A funding after its daily user count surged from 22,000 earlier this year to over 300,000 by September, according to a TechCrunch report published Monday. The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Indian entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and existing investors InfoEdge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners, and Untitled Ventures. The startup, which offers a platform for math, logic, and brain-game puzzles, positions itself as an alternative to what it calls "AI-riddled timelines" and wants to pull users toward mentally engaging content.

The platform recorded 2.2 million monthly active users in September, the report states. With the latest funding round, the company has now raised more than $13.5 million in total capital since its founding. While most players are located in India, the startup has attracted users from the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, and plans to introduce localization to grow those markets. The app, which has been available for two years, only began testing a subscription model this month that unlocks game analysis, tips and tricks, practice sessions, and extra features. The company also generates revenue through in-game purchases that let players skip challenges, preserve streaks, and accelerate XP points.

Matiks was founded by Sudhanshu Bhatia, Mohan Kumar, and Sushant Timmapur, who were college friends. Bhatia, who has a competitive mental math background, told TechCrunch he began developing the concept while working at American Express on anti-money laundering strategy. "For the last 10 years, the platforms have made entertainment consumption easy, but much of it is brain slop," Bhatia said. The app lets users select from Math, Puzzle, Memory, and Logic categories and compete against bots for practice before facing real opponents. Players can also tackle challenges and quests to earn points, maintain streaks, and unlock additional games. The startup has 41 full-time employees and recently launched an experimental game-creation platform called Jelo, which allows users to build their own games for others to play.

The report explains that Matiks is betting on a shift away from passive, AI-generated content consumption toward active mental engagement, drawing inspiration from the earlier success of head-to-head brain games like QuizUp and the competitive format of battle royale titles. General Catalyst partner Rahul Humayun told TechCrunch that "the product's pace of iteration and user engagement" signaled strong potential, adding that "exceptional product love and power user behaviour are clear signs that the team is onto something special." The firm views deep engagement across duels, social features, and the new creation platform as leading indicators for monetization, with early results appearing promising. The company plans to use the fresh capital to scale its platform and expand into new markets, though it faces competition in the user-generated game space from entrants like Google's recently launched Playground platform. Platforms that successfully convert casual users into paying subscribers while maintaining organic growth may find themselves better positioned than those relying on advertising alone. The challenge for Matiks will be sustaining momentum as it transitions from user acquisition to revenue generation across diverse international markets.