NODWIN Gaming To Raise $28 Mn Funding From Parent Nazara, Krafton, Others

Nazara Technologies’ esports subsidiary NODWIN Gaming plans to raise $28 Mn (INR 232 Cr) as part of a strategic funding round from new and existing investors. 

As per regulatory filings, Nazara has signed definitive and binding documentation for NODWIN to raise the capital from existing as well as new investors. 

In a release, the gaming company said that existing investors Nazara, Krafton and JetSynthesys will participate in the funding round. However, it didn’t disclose the name of the new investors.

The funding will be utilised to expand and incubate new IPs as well as to venture into new territories. The investment will also be deployed to drive strategic acquisitions that drive value to the company’s network. 

NODWIN Gaming will be valued at a pre-money valuation of $325 Mn (INR 2,2624 Cr) and a post-money valuation of $349 Mn (INR 2,887 Cr). 

“… we would like to continue to build our value proposition as a sports media company (with a focus on esports) to this TG (target group) by focussing on the timeshare of their mindshare as the key growth metric,” said NODWIN Gaming’s cofounder and managing director Akshat Rathee.

Founded in 2014 by Akshat Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN Gaming is an esports company that operates a slew of gaming and sports entertainment IPs and leverages its synergies across different domains to offer sports-related products and services to customers. 

The new fundraise comes two years after NODWIN bagged $22.4 Mn investment from PUBG maker Krafton at a valuation of $135 Mn. Since then, the startup has scaled up manifold and has been on an acquisition spree recently. 

NODWIN’s M&A Spree

Last month, NODWIN acquired a 51% stake in mediatech startup Branded in an all-cash deal worth $1.3 Mn. In April last year, the esports company also picked up a 35% stake in gaming accessories brand Wings for INR 10.01 Cr. Prior to that, NODWIN acquired a 100% stake in licensed merchandising D2C brand Planet Superheroes in January 2022. 

Its parent company has also been on an acquisition spree as earlier this month, Nazara announced that it was purchasing an additional 19.5% stake in its subsidiary Nextwave for INR 15.5 Cr. 

Nazara-owned Sportskeeda also acquired 73.27% stake in Pro Football Network for $1.82 Mn in March 2023. Last year, multiple subsidiaries of Nazara also increased their stakes in other startups such as Datawrkz and WildWorks.

Nazara’s topline and bottomline has also been growing. Nazara reported a consolidated net profit of INR 61.4 Cr in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23), up 21% year-on-year (YoY). Revenue from operations also breached the INR 1,000 Cr mark, rising 75% YoY to INR 1,091 Cr in the year ended March 2023. 

Shares of Nazara Technologies closed 2.4% higher at INR 580.85 on the BSE on Thursday (May 18).