Gaming Startup WinZO’s FY22 Loss Widens 2.3X To INR 121 Cr As Ad Expenses Surge

Gaming startup Winzo’s net loss widened 2.3X to INR 120.59 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) from INR 51.36 Cr in the previous fiscal year on the back of a sharp rise in its advertising expenses.

Revenue from operations grew 2.3X to INR 233.88 Cr from INR 103.46 Cr in FY21, according to its filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. As the startup is mainly engaged in the services of online skill games, it earns all of its operating revenue through sales of services.

Total income, including other income, grew 2.3X to INR 242.7 Cr from INR 105.11 Cr in FY21.

In line with the rise in revenue, WinZO’s total expenses also grew 2.3X to INR 363.29 Cr from INR 156.47 Cr in FY21.

Other expenses, including rent, legal professional fees, advertising promotional expenses, accounted for the biggest chunk of total expenses. Other expenses rose 5.5X to INR 218.26 Cr in FY22 from INR 39.40 Cr in FY21.

Advertising promotional expenses surged 6.5X to 198.61 Cr in FY22 from INR 30.45 Cr in FY21.

Employee benefit expenses grew 2.2X to INR 29.55 Cr from INR 13.39 Cr in the previous year. Employee benefit expenses included salaries and wages, ESOP expenses, gratuity, among others.

Founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh in 2018, WinZO is an online skill-based gaming startup that partners third-party developers to host games on its mobile-based application.

The Gurugram-based startup has raised a total funding of $100 Mn across multiple rounds from investors such as California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, gaming funds like Maker’s Fund and Courtside, and Kalaari Capital.

The startup offers games in 12 languages, including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and claims to have over 100 Mn users. It competes with the likes of MPL, Zupee, among others.

On Monday (March 20), WinZO said it has launched a $50 Mn ‘Game Developer Fund’ to invest in global startups across all forms of interactive entertainment – game developers and publishers, economies around gaming, content creation, live-ops, and security.

This is the fourth edition of WinZO’s Game Developer Fund. In 2021, the fund size was $20 Mn, while it was $5 Mn and $1.5 Mn in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

The size of the Indian gaming industry was estimated to be $2.6 Bn in FY22 and is expected to increase to over $8.6 Bn by FY27, according to a report by VC fund Lumikai.