Placing transaction security at the core of its mission, Lithuanian gaming start-up Eneba is ready to expand.
Lithuania-based gaming marketplace start-up Eneba has just scored 6.65 million euros in funding from InReach Ventures, Practica Capital FJ Labs and a group of business angels, to help support its international expansion.
On the online marketplace, gamers can buy video games and other gaming-related items such as gift cards.
The start-up was founded in 2018 by Vytis Uogintas and Žygimantas Mikšta and is based in the city of Kaunas. Eneba says it has already attracted 26 million unique users thanks to its “one-click-to-buy” gaming experience, fingerprinting technology and security features.
When players visit from various places in the world, the platform also optimises the local experience to show locally trending video games and gaming products.
In addition, the company says it designed its marketplace in a way that helps reduce risky transactions, simplifies the refund process, and and prevents fraud.
“We’ve been impressed by their ability to execute at such speed as their company quickly scales, and to drive an incredible product with a unique value proposition for gamers,” says Donatas Keras, partner at Practica Capita.
Pandemic driving digital goods demand
With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the related social distancing and lockdown measures, there has been an increase in the consumption of digital media including video games. Eneba has benefited from this trend as well, as the company has seen a “skyrocketing” of their traffic coming from the United States.
According to company co-founder and CMO Žygimantas Mikšta, there has been a tenfold increase in usage numbers, making it a real challenge to rise to meet the increased demand.
“We had a lot of new users coming to Eneba during these uncertain times. While it was extremely satisfying to see our numbers increasing tenfold, there was a challenge to meet the demand. To better reflect our user numbers, we had to quickly expand our team to 130,” he said.
Focus on transaction safety
Eneba’s mission, as the company describes it, is to bring an outstanding selection of games to interested players in the safest, most trustworthy, and cheapest way possible. This is why the Eneba team has focused on security, which is an often-cited issue with gaming marketplaces.
Transaction security is a hot button issue in the online gaming world, especially when it comes to digital goods.
While the start-up does compete with the likes of Amazon and eBay, the team at Eneba believes it’s their focus on safety and fraud prevention that makes them stand out as it addresses risk both for the sellers and the buyers.
“We have been extremely impressed by what the founders have been able to build in such a short amount of time,” says Roberto Bonanzinga, the co-founder of InReach Ventures.
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