Melbourne game developer Lumi Interactive raises $9.76 million in seed funding for Kinder World

Lumi Interactive, a radiant women-led game studio in Melbourne, has announced a massive seed investment in their ‘crowdhealing’ efforts. Reaching $9.76 million AUD, the oversubscribed seed round is a massive gamechanger for the studio. It’s also the largest seed investment to date in a female-founded Australian game studio. The money will allow the team to further their development goals for their Kinder World mobile game.

Kinder World describes itself as a ‘cozy houseplant game’ designed to improve mental health and encourage relaxation. It’s a community game where your nurturing spirit not only goes into looking after your houseplants, but will also go into showing support for other players. The connectivity and peacefulness of an experience like this feels all the more necessary every time something happens in the real world that just gets you down. And there have been plenty of examples of that in recent memory. Meet the developers below!

Some might remember our interview with the Lumi Interactive team last year after a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Since then, Lumi Interactive has continued the development of the app. When chatting with the team, it was so evident that they were creating something from the heart. Since that time, Lumi Interactive has hired more folks to the team, increasing their efforts to make Kinder World reach its full potential.

“These past few years have been anything but kind,” explains Co-Founder and CEO Lauren Clinnick, “but even in the depths of Melbourne’s long lockdowns, my small team saw how everyday acts of compassion, to ourselves and others, could make the world seem like a kinder place.”

Kinder World focuses on using evidence-based self-care activities that encourage players to perform simple acts of mindful kindness. It’s a player community that grows every day by focusing on improving mental wellbeing. I’ve used the app and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s actually helped me reorientate how I approach my own creative process as a writer. It’s the team’s intention to continue to push Kinder World to more online and offline platforms to improve the accessibility and reach of the initiative.

The app is still in Alpha with a full launch intended for late 2022 but it’s available now on Android and iOS.