Kaki Gaming — gaming companion marketplace

Context

Companion gaming already existed in Malaysia and Singapore, but it was transacted privately: arrangements made in Discord servers and chat groups, rates agreed in DMs, payment sent by transfer and hoped for. Nobody verified who the companion was, nothing held the money in between, and buyer and companion often did not share a first language.

Kaki Gaming set out to take a transaction that lived in private chats and give it a platform — on web and both app stores at once, because this audience does not sit at a desk.

Challenge

• Supply had to be worth switching for — companions were already earning in chat groups with nobody taking a cut.
• Buyers and companions often do not share a first language, so the session itself had to bridge it.
• Three surfaces had to launch together: web, iOS and Android.
• Money moves between strangers, so verification, settlement and refund had to be policy-backed rather than ad hoc.
• App-store distribution carries its own requirements, including published child-safety standards.

What we did

Development

We built the platform end to end as one system across three surfaces, plus the operator console that runs it.

• Buyer marketplace — browse by game, rank and availability; companion profiles; instant-start or scheduled booking.
• Companion side — self-onboarding with verification, self-set rates and schedule.
• Zero fee on the order, revenue on the gift — companions keep 100% of order value; the platform earns on virtual gifting instead, so the thing a companion compares against a chat group costs them nothing.
• The session, not just the booking — in-app messaging and voice calls with AI translation, so cross-language sessions work without leaving the app and reviews, disputes and history stay attached to a real record.
• One credit ledger, many rails — buyers top up through Visa and Mastercard, FPX, GrabPay, Apple Pay and Google Pay; each session draws that credit down, so pricing, refunds, coupons and payouts all resolve against one ledger.
• Operator console — companion verification, orders, refunds, coupon campaigns and credit management behind all three surfaces.
• Policy pages — booking, payment, refund and child-safety (CSAE) policies published as first-class pages.
• Reviews, community feed, monthly companion leaderboards, and arcade minigames.

Outcome

• Phase 1 live on web, iOS and Android three weeks from start, at kakigaming.com.
• 100+ games listed across ranked play, minigames and casual sessions.
• Companions self-onboard, set their own rates, and keep 100% of order value.
• Cross-language sessions work in-app through voice with AI translation.
• Six payment rails feed a single in-app credit ledger.
• Booking, payment, refund and CSAE child-safety policies published.