Digital Entertainment Company JetSynthesys Receives $2 Mn Investment From Sachin Tendulkar

Former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar recently made an equity investment of $2 Mn in JetSynthesys, the new age digital entertainment and technology company with a global foray in gaming, digital entertainment, and interest-based social community platforms.

Apart from the Indian cricketer, other investors of JetSynthesys include names such as, Adar Poonawalla, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and the family offices of the promoters of Thermax, Triveni Group, Yohan Poonawalla Group and DSP Group.

Prior to this deal, Tendulkar and JetSynthesys had partnered up for the digital destination for cricket, 100MB, and the cricket games Sachin Saga Cricket Champions along with the Sachin Saga VR.

Commenting on this investment, Tendulkar said, “My association with JetSynthesys goes back to almost 5 years now. We started our journey with Sachin Saga Cricket Champions and strengthened it with a unique Virtual Reality cricket experience.” 

Speaking on the deal, Rajan Navani, vice chairman and managing director, JetSynthesys added “Cricket enjoys widespread popularity in the country and remains a key focus for us. With this investment, we aim to further solidify our position at the forefront of skill-based cricket gaming across the world, and expand our roster of partnerships to other known names as well. We will strategically leverage JetSynthesys’ capabilities to strengthen brand Sachin and continue to extend an immersive, realistic and next-gen experience to our consumers worldwide.”

Founded by Rajan Navani in 2014, JetSynthesys has global publishing partnerships with the likes of WWE, Square Enix and Hollywood film Passengers and Floyd Mayweather. Post acquiring Nautilus Mobile and therefore Real Cricket, JetSynthesys is also a skill-based cricket gaming franchise in the world with 120 Mn+ downloads and 1.2 Cr+ monthly active users, the company claims.  Additionally, it also cofounded the esports company Nodwin Gaming.  

In the social community arena, along with 100MB, JetSynthesys is also home to ThinkRight.me, a meditation and mindfulness app; AnyDay Money, a  fintech platform for advance salary formed in association with Adar Poonawalla; JobDost, a platform providing access to grey and blue-collar jobs in multiple cities across India; and SonicJobs, the UK hiring portal for blue-collared jobs.

According to the report “Esports In India: Market Landscape Report, 2020″, the esports sector is projected to grow by 36% CAGR in the next 3 years. This is primarily due to the recent rise in Indian  smartphone users during the pandemic. 

According to a report by BARC & Nielsen, the number of smartphone game users per week grew from 60% in pre-Covid times to 68% during the lockdown. Similarly, the time spent on mobile games per user per week went from 151 minutes before the lockdown to 218 minutes during the lockdown. Esports have a huge potential in the Indian market, given that India has the right distribution of consumers and players, thanks to the high youth population. The aggregate revenue of esports startups and companies in India reached $68 Mn in FY2020, as per Inc42 Plus analysis of 36 companies including Jetsynthesys, Nazara Technologies, Usports, Gamerji among others.