Nazara Technologies, which recently received about Rs. 180 crore from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has acquired a majority stake of around 55 percent in Indian gaming company NODWIN Gaming. Post acquisition, NODWIN will become an independent subsidiary of Nazara Technologies.
With this investment, Nazara is aiming to strengthen its portfolio of offerings in the virtual interactive sports genre in India and other emerging markets.
NODWIN Gaming was founded in 2014 as a 50:50 venture between Akshat Rathee, Gautam Virk and Jetsynthesys Pvt. Ltd. The company has established relationships with global gaming publishers and platforms including market leaders such as ESL (Turtle Entertainment, GMBH) and Valve Corporation.
The company holds the exclusive long-term India rights for global partners such as ESL, ESWC among others. It hosts and manages various IP-based gaming events such as the ESL India Premiership, The Dew Arena by ESL, KO Fight Nights, The North East Championship, The Intel Extreme Masters qualifiers for India, The Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) India Qualifiers, among others.
On the other hand, Nazara Technologies was founded in 2000 by Nitish Mittersain. It is one of the rare highly-profitable companies in India’s digital market. The company could be valued at between ₹3,000 crore and ₹3,500 crore in its IPO, which is expected to take place by middle of this year.
The company is reportedly planning to finish the listing process by the end of March 2018 and is expecting a valuation of 30-35 times projected profit after tax (PAT) of ₹100 crore in FY19. Earlier this month, Nazara Technologies acquired a majority stake in NextWave Multimedia. The company has also invested in startups such as MasterMind Sports, Truly Social, Moong Labs and HalaPlay.
The mobile gaming company Nazara Technologies has expanded to 74 countries as publisher, diversifying its revenues across Africa and the Middle East as well.