Nazara To Invest INR 196 Cr In 5 Companies

Continuing its acquisition spree, listed gaming major Nazara Technologies has announced plans to acquire additional stake in three of its subsidiaries – Nodwin, Sportskeeda’s parent Absolute Sport, and adtech Datawrkz – and make investments in kids-play centre company Funky Monkeys and edtech Learntube.ai.

In a statement, Nazara said that the investment will solidify “its position in the gaming and entertainment ecosystems”. Here’s a brief description of the new investments: 

Nodwin: Nazara will invest INR 64 Cr in its esports subsidiary Nodwin by subscribing to optionally convertible preference shares. With this, it aims to support the gaming subsidiary’s expansion and enhance its intellectual properties. 

It is pertinent to note that Nodwin is one of the biggest revenue drivers for Nazara.

Sportskeeda: Nazara said it will invest INR 69 Cr to purchase shares arising from exercise of ESOPs by Sportskeeda employees. With this, its stake in Absolute will increase to 100%, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

Datawrkz: The company will invest INR 15 Cr in its adtech subsidiary via the subscription of its compulsorily convertible cumulative preference shares (CCPS). It acquired a 33% stake in Datawrkz in 2022.

Funky Monkeys: Nazara is acquiring a 60% stake in the indoor play centre chain for INR 43.7 Cr. Founded by Binita Putcha and Sanjay Ghadiali in 2012, Funky Monkeys Play Centers claims to be the leader in indoor play centres for kids segment and runs 11 centres across India. Its founders said that the acquisition will allow for synergies with digital IP’s owned by Nazara such as Kiddopia.

Learntube.ai: Nazara will invest INR 4.2 Cr for a 4.7% stake in the AI-powered edtech platform. Learntube, which was earlier known as CareerNinja, secured initial commitments, part of its larger $2 Mn seed round, from investors like Blitzscaling Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Bisk Ventures in October last year. It is unclear if the funding from Nazara is also a part of the seed funding round. 

Learntube offers an AI-powered platform that integrates gamification with personalised education, delivering an interactive learning experience. 

In a post on LinkedIn, Nazara CEO Nitish Mittersain said that the investment in Learntube will be Nazara’s first AI investment. 

“Nazara is committed to building the largest diversified gaming and entertainment platform out of India and many of our initiatives announced today are geared towards propelling profitable growth in these strategic areas of our interest,” Mittersain said. 

The investment announcement comes a few days after Nazara secured INR 855 Cr ($101.3 Mn) in a private placement round on November 27. Investors like SBI Mutual Fund, Caratlane founder Mithun Sacheti, Aamara Capital, among others, participated in the round. 

The company then said it planned to utilise the capital to make “strategic acquisitions, fund business expansion, and enhance the company’s ability to seize new growth opportunities”.

Shortly after bagging the fresh capital, Nazara announced the acquisition of gaming agency and platform Trinity Gaming for INR 24 Cr ($2.8 Mn) on November 29. 

It is pertinent to mention that the company’s acquisition spree in 2024 has seen it buy stakes in Pokerbaazi, Paperboat, STAN, Fusebox, Ninja Global FZCO, Freaks 4U, Circle of Games.

On the financial front, Nazara reported a consolidated net profit of INR 16.24 Cr in the September quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (Q2 FY25), down 33% from INR 24.18 Cr in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.