The board of directors of India-based gaming and sports media firm Nazara Technologies has approved five investments worth approximately ₹1.96B INR ($23.1M USD), with plans to use at least ₹1.48B ($17.5M) for deeper investments in its subsidiaries such as sports media publication Sportskeeda and esports and gaming company NODWIN Gaming, among others. The company will also dip its toe into the artificial intelligence space (AI) with an ₹42M ($496K) investment into AI-based learning platform Learntube.ai (acquiring a 4.7% stake in the company).
Nazara will invest ₹690M ($8.15M) to purchase shares arising from the exercise of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) from Sportskeeda’s management. This move will increase Nazara’s stake to 100%. An investment of ₹640M ($7.56M) will be made into its esports and gaming subsidiary NODWIN Gaming through the subscription of Optionally Convertible Preference Shares. Furthermore, Nazara will invest ₹437M ($5.16M) to acquire a 60% stake in India-based gaming centers company Funky Monkeys Play Centres and ₹150M ($1.77M) in media marketing company Datawrkz.
In a social media post this week, Nazara Technologies Founder and CEO Nitish Mittersain revealed that the investments come from such funds and investors as SBI Opportunities Fund, Junomoneta Finsol Private Limited, Sidartha Sacheti, Mithun Padam Sacheti, Cohesion MK Best Ideas Sub-Trust, Chartered Finance & Leasing Limited, Discovery Global Opportunity (Mauritius) Ltd., Ratnabali Investment Private Ltd., Meenakshi Mercantiles Limited, and Aamari Capital Private Limited.
#nazara successfully closes its INR 855 crores funding round onboarding marquee investors.#gaming #india pic.twitter.com/2wZW0ucaPL
— Nitish Mittersain (@mittersain) November 28, 2024
More details on these investments can be found in this press release.