A subsidiary of cell gaming firm Nazara Technologies, NODWIN Gaming has raised Rs 164 crore for a minority funding from South Korean Gaming agency KRAFTON.
The esports firm plans to channelize these funds to speed up the event of esports in South Asia, Middle East and Africa, help expertise, present higher gaming infrastructure and know-how and conceptualise, arrange and execute a large number of match IPs on the nationwide and worldwide degree.
This spherical of funding follows earlier investments from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies and from JetSynthesys backed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.
“Esports will be a key pillar to the growth of sports entertainment in the future. It sits at a wonderful intersection of Sports, Entertainment and Technology where nations such as India can pave the path. With KRAFTON coming on board, we have an endorsement from the mecca of Gaming and esports – South Korea, on what we are building from India for the world based on our competence in mobile-first markets. Gautam and I, the co-founders of NODWIN Gaming, continue our journey with all of our existing investors reinforcing their faith in us” mentioned Akshat Rathee, Co-Founder and Managing Director, NODWIN Gaming.
KRAFTON is among the high gaming firms in South Korea and is the creator of mental properties and video games comparable to PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS(PUBG)s, TERA, Golf King, Castle Burn amongst others.
Changhan Kim, CEO of KRAFTON mentioned, “KRAFTON is excited to partner with NODWIN Gaming to help foster the promising esports ecosystem and engage with our fans and players in India.” He added “Taking the momentum from this partnership, we will explore additional investment opportunities in the region to uphold our commitment and dedication in cultivating the local video game, esports, entertainment, and tech industries.”
Post the transaction, Nazara will proceed to personal a stake in extra of 50 % in NODWIN Gaming. Nazara invested into NODWIN Gaming in 2018 and this funding has created a worth in extra of 6.44 occasions in three years.
Manish Agarwal CEO Nazara applied sciences mentioned “We at Nazara congratulate the NODWIN Gaming team on the KRAFTON investment and it is a strong testimony of their leadership position in esports in India. Nazara has been an early and strong believer in the potential of esports to disrupt the sports entertainment market and we believe this partnership between KRAFTON and the Nazara group will accelerate the growth of esports and open doors for collaboration between Indian and Korean gaming companies in future.”
Formed in 2014, NODWIN Gaming by means of its strategic partnerships with international publishers and companions together with ESL, Valve, KRAFTON, Tencent, Riot and Blizzard has launched Indians to among the iconic esports experiences such because the oldest esports IP within the nation — the India Premiership together with different IPs such because the gaming competition Dreamhack, international championship ESL One, PUBG Mobile esports (PMCO/PMPL/PMWL). It additionally has sturdy content material partnerships with broadcasters comparable to MTV on linear TV, Disney+ Hotstar, Youtube and Airtel.
