ARC raises Rs 10.5 crore in pre-seed funding

ARC, a gaming technology company has raised Rs 10.5 crore in pre‑seed funding led by Chimera VC and MIXI Global Investments, with participation from Dhruv Vohra, Director, Meta, APAC, in his personal capacity. The funding will accelerate development and commercialisation of ARC X1, covering hardware engineering, product validation, manufacturing readiness, and further development of OWL OS and ARC’s gaming software platform. It will also support team expansion, go‑to‑market capabilities, and strategic partnerships across gaming, cloud, content and technology.The global portable gaming console market was valued at US$3.89 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at 9.7% CAGR through 2033. ARC aims to tap into India’s large mobile‑first gaming community and the low penetration of dedicated gaming hardware, creating space for a more accessible portable gaming category.Founded by Jobin Joseph and Kaustubh K. Jadhav, ARC is building a platform that integrates hardware, software and gaming experiences. The ARC X1 is a portable gaming system designed to make dedicated gaming more accessible to Indian gamers. ARC is developing its own hardware and software stack, aiming to build an ecosystem across devices, operating systems, software services and gaming experiences.Joseph said the funding will deepen ARC’s technology, accelerate product development and move the company closer to launch. Jadhav added that ARC was founded on the belief that access should not determine how deeply someone experiences gaming, and the funding will help bring ARC X1 to gamers at scale.Chimera VC’s Krish Anurag said ARC fits their thesis of backing companies that can become infrastructure for the next chapter of gaming. MIXI Global Investments’ Tomoharu Urabe said ARC X1 can make handheld gaming more accessible for India’s passionate gaming community.ARC X1 is built on ARM architecture, powered by Qualcomm technology, and runs OWL OS, ARC’s proprietary gaming operating system. It supports native Android gaming, PC‑game compatibility through ARC’s software stack, and cloud gaming. ARC has crossed 50,000 waitlist sign‑ups and collaborated with Qualcomm ahead of launch, adopting a community‑led development model involving gamers through early testing and feedback programmes.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.