Gaikai raises $10 million to put games in cloud

SAN FRANCISCO, US: If Gaikai has its way, playing games on the computer will become a lot easier, which means those hours of lost productivity might also begin to soar.

The Los Angeles, California-based startup, which is developing technology that makes it easier for users to play games online, last week announced it has raised more than $10 million in a Series B funding round from TriplePoint Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners, Benchmark Capital and an undisclosed investors.

The company's technology allows user to easily play computer games without requiring downloads or having to install applications, by playing games in the cloud. Mitch Lasky, general partner of Benchmark Capital and a Gaikai board member, said that the business is "poised to take advantage of sweeping changes in how games are bought, sold, and ultimately even played brought about by the industry-wide shift to digital distribution."

Gaikai, which was founded by Andrew Gault and Rui Pereira, had previously raised $5 million in a first round of funding from Benchmark, according to a regulatory filing earlier this year.

The startup was one of a handful of early stage tech companies to raise venture capital funding recently.