Dublin-headquartered Keywords Studios Plc, has acquired Gurgaon-based art services provider for the video games industry Lakshya Digital Pvt. Ltd for about $4 Mn (INR 25 Cr.) With this, Keywords Studios has agreed to pay the shareholders of Lakshya $4 Mn in two tranches.
Keywords has acquired 91% stake in the company for about $3 Mn in cash and the remaining 9% of Lakshya will be acquired for a total of $1 Mn in October next year.
Lakshya was founded in 2004 by Shantanu Prakash, promoter of Educomp, alongwith 3 others. It is an interactive entertainment and game development services studio.
It currently employs about 270 people. Post-acquisition, the business development team of Lakshya will be integrated into the Keywords sales team force.
Lakshya have grown into one of the largest game production studios in South Asia; with two game development studios in Gurgaon and Pune, an Office in San Diego, California, USA.
Keywords is an international service provider to the Video Game Industry with offices in Dublin, London, Tokyo, Seattle, Montreal, Singapore and Rome.
“By providing us with an entry point into the large, growing yet fragmented art outsourcing market, the acquisition of Lakshya provides Keywords with additional growth opportunities as well as cost and revenue synergies… It will enable the group to have earlier involvement in the development cycle of video games titles, it will enable us to share one facility at Gurgaon (New Delhi) where both Lakshya and Babel Media are located and it will provide us with a base from which to expand further in the art outsourcing market,” said Andrew Day, chief executive of Keywords Studios.
This is 5th acquisition in a row where a international firm has acquired an Indian startup.
