Google-Backed Glance Acquires Gambit, Aims To Bring NFT Based Live Gaming On Lock Screen

InMobi’s consumer internet arm Glance has acquired gaming startup Gambit Sports for an undisclosed amount. This will accelerate Glance’s ambition of building NFT-based live gaming experiences for Gen-Z, across various markets. 

The acquisition will bring together Glance’s scale and lock-screen centric innovation with Gambit’s expertise in the gaming market. Glance Games – Glance’s lock screen gaming platform – has more than 45 Mn monthly active users across Asia, it said in a statement.

Founded in 2015 by Yashashvi Takallapalli, Gaurav Konar, Ranaveer Sankieneni and Deepak Venkatramani, Gambit owns and operates Nostragamus (Nostra Pro). Its gaming platform consists of fantasy sports, poker, rummy, quiz and hyper-casual, among other games. More than 100 Mn games have been played on its Nostragamus platform which has close to 10 Mn registered users, it claims.

“We have already started seeing traction for live gaming on Glance. For instance, over 10 Mn users watch live game streams on Glance every week. With Glance and Gambit’s combined strengths and our belief that there is a game for every person, we envision doubling the number of monthly active gamers on Glance Games in the next year,” said Yashashvi Takallapalli, cofounder and CEO, Gambit.

Founded in 2019 by Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal, Mohit Saxena, and Piyush Shah, Glance is owned by adtech unicorn InMobi. Glance would leverage Gambit’s expertise to launch live gaming experiences including tournaments, game shows, game streaming and multiplayer games on lock screen. 

Gambit will also enable Glance to launch multiple casual-to-midcore games to be enjoyed by diverse sets of gamers.  

“Gaming is the most exciting content category across the world today and Gen-Z spends more time on gaming than on any other activity online,” said Piyush Shah, cofounder, InMobi Group and president and COO, Glance. 

Giving users live, connected, interactive gaming experiences on the lock screen is key to Glance’s vision of building the world’s largest live internet platform. Glance would launch creator-led NFTs for live gaming which will generate unique ‘play-to-earn’ and ‘play-to-own’ possibilities for the entire gaming ecosystem, Shah added. 

Reliance Jio’s Investment In Glance 

Glance had signed an agreement to raise $200 Mn funding from Jio Platforms to accelerate its global expansion in February 2022. Glance entered into a business partnership with Jio through which Glance’s lock screen platform will be integrated into JioPhone Next smartphones. This integration is expected to further boost the reach of Glance Games.

The investment comes almost two years after Glance raised $145 Mn in its Series C round. The round was led by tech giant Google along with existing investor Mithril Capital. The round helped Glance to become a unicorn in 2020.

In June 2021, ecommerce platform Shop101 announced that it has agreed to an acquisition deal from Glance. Shop 101 said that the acquisition will provide Glance end-to-end capability for launching celebrity and influencer-led live commerce, as the startup looks to expand into new ecommerce categories. 

Meanwhile, Roposo was acquired by Glance in 2019. It  is one of the many short video content platforms in India, which gained prominence after TikTok was banned in India. It claims to have 33 Mn monthly active users who spend 20 minutes daily consuming content across multiple genres in more than 10 languages.