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Tag: JetSynthesys

  • JetSynthesys’ ThinkRight launches ‘The Think Right Podcast’

    JetSynthesys’ ThinkRight launches ‘The Think Right Podcast’

    Mumbai: India’s leading wellness app, Thinkright from the house of JetSynthesys, unveiled its latest endeavour with the introduction of the Think Right Podcast. Spearheaded by spiritual mentor BK Sister Shivani and JetSynthesys’ founder and CEO Rajan Navani, this podcast is designed to shed light on the benefits of mindfulness, affirmations, and meditation, aiming to foster a state of peaceful existence, strike a harmonious work-life balance, and cultivate healthy relationships with oneself and others.

    It has already garnered a significant following, with episode one amassing 192,000 views and episode two, released on 17 February with guest Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, pro-chancellor at Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, reaching more than 50,000 views. Future episodes will feature industry stalwarts like Motilal Oswal and Holistic Wellness advocate Luke Coutinho.

    Expressing his excitement about the podcast, JetSynthesys founder and CEO Rajan Navani said, “Right from education to career opportunities, the pressures and stresses of everyday life have intensified in today’s dynamic world. Through the Think Right Podcast, we trying to help individuals navigate these challenges effectively. With the contributions from industry leaders across sectors, this podcast will offer a wealth of knowledge and practices for personal growth and transformation. By showcasing how successful individuals manage life’s complexities through wellness practices, we hope to inspire positive change in the lives of our viewers. We are looking forward to seeing the potential impact the podcast is set to bring in everyday lives.”

    According to BK Sister Shivani, “In today’s fast-paced world, many struggle to find inner peace amidst the chaos of daily life. Through the Think Right Podcast, we aim to empower individuals with the tools they need to navigate life’s challenges and discover inner peace and harmony within themselves. We hope this reaches as many people as possible and makes a meaningful impact in their lives.”

    https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkRightApp/videos

    ThinkRight is a leading wellness and meditation app with over 3.50 million downloads, 20,000 reviews, and an outstanding rating of 4.7 on the Play Store, reflecting the app’s popularity and positive reception among users. It also features an exclusive daily affirmation journey led by the esteemed spiritual guide BK Sister Shivani, along with daily sleep meditations and stories to enhance sleep quality. Additionally, the app includes content tailored for children’s well-being, including child-friendly stories, meditations, and activities.

  • Warner Music expands deal with Jetsynthesys’ Global Music Junction

    Warner Music expands deal with Jetsynthesys’ Global Music Junction

    Mumbai: Warner Music India has expanded its partnership with Global Music Junction (GMJ), the music and entertainment subsidiary of JetSynthesys. The companies struck a distribution deal in 2021, but this new agreement sees Warner Music make a strategic investment in GMJ, giving it a seat on the board. The move will establish Warner Music India to become the largest player in the central Indian music market.

    GMJ is the dominant force in the Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Oriya, Kannada, and Gujarati language markets and has recently achieved exponential growth in the latter two. Bhojpuri is the fastest-growing language in India, and this move makes Warner Music the largest player in its music market. GMJ is committed to empower artists and labels through services including content creation, events management, innovative distribution, marketing solutions, technical analytics, and legal expertise.  

    The company has built an ecosystem that involves more than 100 partners, over 250 million subscribers, serving up more than 100 billion minutes of entertainment annually in more than 130,000 pieces of audio-visual music content.

    Its partners include renowned figures such as Bhojpuri superstars Khesari lal Yadav, Pawan Singh, Haryanvi superstars Renuka, Sapna Chaudhary and Sahil Sandhu, Odiya stars Malay Mishra and Ira Mohanty along with legends from the industry such as Sonu Nigam, Salim Merchant, Shaan, and Sulaiman Merchant.

    GMJ also collaborates with training and production partners such as the top online music learning platform Artium Academy, Rajasthan-based movie production company Hariprem Films and music directors Sahil Sandhu (Western Beats, Haryana) and Malay Mishra (Basanta Studios, Orissa).

    In the recent past, GMJ has achieved significant milestones with its content such as “Jale 2”, by Haryanvi superstar Sapna Choudhary, becoming one of the fastest music video to reach more than 300 million views on YouTube and more than 15 million Instagram Reels in India in 90 days. The video for “Sent Gamkauwa” by Shivani Singh accumulated more than 700 million YouTube views in just six months.

    Warner Music president, emerging markets Alfonso Perez Soto said, “This is a significant milestone in the expansion of our presence across India. Working with the amazing team at GMJ last year not only strengthened our partnership but enabled us to better support artists from the central regions of India, bringing them the best artistic support that any company can provide, and helping them connect with fans across the country and around the world. India is one of the most exciting music markets in the world and with GMJ as a partner we’re right at the heart of it.”

    JetSynthesys CEO and founder Rajan Navani added, “Our journey with Warner Music has been remarkable, highlighted by some successful collaborations. The indigenous languages in which we operate, such as the Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Oriya, Kannada and Gujarati language markets in India, have seen incredible growth in the recent past. Warner Music’s investment in Global Music Junction and its continued collaboration with us will fast track the increasing expansion of India’s regional music industry. With our combined collective vision and understanding of audience preferences, we aim to strengthen the ecosystem by meeting the growing fan demand in the music and entertainment space. We are looking forward to more successful outcomes from our longstanding collaboration.”

    Warner Music India MD Jay Mehta added: “Our partnership continues to have a significant presence in the places in the Indian market which are growing most rapidly, and so enables us to be the fastest music company in our expansion.  GMJ is a leading player in five language markets in central India and works with some of the biggest names in Indian music and show business.  This is a critical moment in our expansion across the country as we seek to position Warner Music India as the number one choice for all discerning artists and labels.”

    Global Music Junction CEO Rajkumar Singh commented: “GMJ is committed to pioneering innovative marketing strategies, fostering creativity, and elevating the digital music landscape across India.  Our expanded partnership with Warner Music will help us fulfill our vision of becoming the foremost digital entertainment company in the country, while nurturing the next generation of talent. We will continue to enable our partners to focus on their artistic endeavours, while we manage their digital properties to engage users effectively.”

    Giri Digital, an early investor in GMJ, continues to stay invested.

  • Harmanpreet Kaur teams up with Woloo for women’s sanitation cause

    Harmanpreet Kaur teams up with Woloo for women’s sanitation cause

    Mumbai: Woloo, India’s first loo discovery app proudly announces the appointment of Indian women’s cricket team captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, as their brand ambassador. Founded by Manish Kelshikar, the app is aimed at providing safe and hygienic washroom facilities for women. The user can easily locate and access certified washrooms using the app, ensuring safety, cleanliness, and hygiene.

    Talking about the appointment, JetSynthesys founder and CEO Rajan Navani said, “We believe that access to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities is not just a basic necessity but a fundamental right for every woman. With Harmanpreet Kaur joining Woloo as the brand ambassador, we are confident that her influence will amplify our efforts to make a meaningful difference in the lives of women by providing them with access to clean and safe washroom facilities. At JetSynthesys, we are committed to leveraging technology to improve the quality of life for women across India. Looking forward to the impact Woloo and Harmanpreet are all set to create.”

    Commenting on the collaboration, Woloo founder & CEO Manish Kelshikar stated, “From Day one, we’ve been seeking someone like Harmanpreet, who truly embodies the spirit of resilience and empowerment. Her stature as an inspiring Indian cricketer makes her the perfect member of the Woloo family. We’re all delighted to have her join us on this important journey.”

    Excited to be a part of Woloo, Harmanpreet Kaur stated, “I’m super excited and truly grateful to support a cause like this, something that didn’t cross my mind until I heard about it from Woloo. It made me realize how much we’ve taken things for granted and continue to live with this oversight. Woloo is pioneering a mission that addresses a fundamental need, and it requires tremendous support from everyone. There’s no reason why such a necessity should be so hard to expect. Together, Woloo and I aspire to build a future where every woman feels empowered and respected.”

    The Woloo app is currently available on Android and iOS devices. Woloo service is now available across 400 cities with 40,000 hygienic washrooms on its platform. Through strategic partnerships with organisations like the Toilet Board Coalition (TBC), Woloo intends to expand city by city across India.

  • Jetsynthesys associates with Animeta for their E-sports mega event ‘GEPL’

    Jetsynthesys associates with Animeta for their E-sports mega event ‘GEPL’

    Mumbai: JetSynthesys’ first edition of the global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL), world’s largest team-based cricket e-sports and entertainment league, unfolded on Real Cricket 24 (RC 24), the leading mobile cricket simulation game (co-owned by the same company). To market this exciting property whose primary audience is Gen Z, Jet Synthesys partnered with Animeta, an innovative AI-powered creator tech company, to bring onboard creators and artists.

    The main task at hand, to start with, was to create awareness and acceptance for the concept of e-Cricket, and then use that buzz to drive tune-ins to Jio Cinema, the exclusive streaming partner for GEPL. Given the huge popularity that cricket as a sport already has, the idea was also to diversify the audience profile beyond regular gaming and e-sports enthusiasts (120 M+ active users), and take it to viewers of cricket content on mobile (260 M+), with a significant proportion of GenZ audience.

    The force behind GEPL and JetSynthesys founder & CEO Rajan Navani shared his perspective, “Cricket came to us from the West but today, I’m proud to say that our Made-in-India Real Cricket™ and GEPL have set the stage for India exporting cricket esports to the world. Animeta helped us onboard the right influencers and employ the correct influencer strategy to maximize the impact of these creators.”

    Commenting on the collaboration, GEPL CEO Rohit Potphode said, “GEPL stands as the largest eCricket league globally. In order to appropriately match its immense scale, we collaborated with Animeta- Brandstar, a specialized influencer marketing platform. This partnership allowed us to enlist renowned influencers spanning cricket, gaming, and entertainment domains, ensuring a broad reach across diverse audience demographics.”

    The collaboration kicked off with the onboarding of 8 established mobile gamers, who were called the ‘Game Galvanizers’. Each was assigned a team to cheer for, as they seeded awareness about RC 24 and GEPL, driving excitement across their communities. The famous comedic creator-duo Funcho (Shyam and Dhruv) were onboarded as the ‘Series Galvanizers’, leveraging the star-power of these Gen-Z focused, culture moving, and cricket loving creators to attract a diverse young audience set to check out GEPL.

    Animeta CEO Devdatta Potnis said “When you are trying to tap into a Gen Z audience, influencer marketing becomes an extremely important avenue, as social media is where this audience frequents daily. The approach was to tap into some key aspects across the whole spectrum of content habits that this audience has.”

    To enhance the entertainment experience, Animeta brought on board four prominent rappers—ACE, Nasty Ninja, Yedha Anna, and 99 Side—to create the anthem ‘Find Your Glory’ for GEPL Season 1. Eight dynamic female influencers showcased the game’s broad appeal across genders, further diversifying GEPL’s target audience cohorts.

    Animeta senior VP branded content & creator projects Biswamitra Ray stated, “Selection of credible and relevant voices and high-relatability in the content is key to a campaign’s success. Whether it was for the social media posts made by the creators or the song composed specially for GEPL – we looked deeply into universal insights about the audience, whose attention we were trying to grab.”

    The event featured a performance by the renowned EPR aka Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, a rock and hip-hop rapper, and brought various creators and gamers on stage. Popular gaming creator Shreeman Legend hosted a fan-meet attended by approximately 1000 fans, delighting the audience and creating lasting memories.

  • Jetsynthesys & Animeta partner for e-sports mega-event – GEPL

    Jetsynthesys & Animeta partner for e-sports mega-event – GEPL

    Mumbai: JetSynthesys’ first edition of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL), world’s largest team-based cricket e-sports and entertainment league, unfolded on Real Cricket 24 (RC 24), the leading mobile cricket simulation game (co-owned by the same company). To market this exciting property whose primary audience is Gen Z, Jet Synthesys partnered with Animeta, an innovative AI-powered creator tech company, to bring onboard creators and artists.

    The main task at hand, to start with, was to create awareness and acceptance for the concept of e-Cricket, and then use that buzz to drive tune-ins to Jio Cinema, the exclusive streaming partner for GEPL. Given the huge popularity that cricket as a sport already has, the idea was also to diversify the audience profile beyond regular gaming and e-sports enthusiasts (120 M+ active users), and take it to viewers of cricket content on mobile (260 M+), with a significant proportion of GenZ audience.

    JetSynthesys (the force behind GEPL) founder & CEO Rajan Navani shared his perspective, “Cricket came to us from the West but today, I’m proud to say that our Made-in-India Real Cricket™ and GEPL have set the stage for India exporting cricket esports to the world. Animeta helped us onboard the right influencers and employ the correct influencer strategy to maximize the impact of these creators.”

    Commenting on the collaboration, GEPL CEO Rohit Potphode said, “GEPL stands as the largest eCricket league globally. In order to appropriately match its immense scale, we collaborated with Animeta- Brandstar, a specialized influencer marketing platform. This partnership allowed us to enlist renowned influencers spanning cricket, gaming, and entertainment domains, ensuring a broad reach across diverse audience demographics.”

    The collaboration kicked off with the onboarding of 8 established mobile gamers, who were called the ‘Game Galvanizers’. Each was assigned a team to cheer for, as they seeded awareness about RC 24 and GEPL, driving excitement across their communities. The famous comedic creator-duo Funcho (Shyam and Dhruv) were onboarded as the ‘Series Galvanizers’, leveraging the star-power of these Gen-Z focused, culture moving, and cricket loving creators to attract a diverse young audience set to check out GEPL.

    Animeta CEO Devdatta Potnis said “When you are trying to tap into a Gen Z audience, influencer marketing becomes an extremely important avenue, as social media is where this audience frequents daily. The approach was to tap into some key aspects across the whole spectrum of content habits that this audience has.”

    To enhance the entertainment experience, Animeta brought on board four prominent rappers—ACE, Nasty Ninja, Yedha Anna, and 99 Side-to create the anthem ‘Find Your Glory’ for GEPL Season 1. Eight dynamic female influencers showcased the game’s broad appeal across genders, further diversifying GEPL’s target audience cohorts.

    Animeta Sr VP of branded content and creator projects Biswamitra Ray stated “Selection of credible and relevant voices and high-relatability in the content is key to a campaign’s success. Whether it was for the social media posts made by the creators or the song composed specially for GEPL – we looked deeply into universal insights about the audience, whose attention we were trying to grab.”

    The event featured a performance by the renowned EPR aka Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, a rock and hip-hop rapper, and brought various creators and gamers on stage. Popular gaming creator Shreeman Legend hosted a fan meet attended by approximately 1000 fans, delighting the audience and creating lasting memories.

  • Jetsynthesys’ Global Music Junction & Warner Music India announce strategic partnership with Artium Academy

    Jetsynthesys’ Global Music Junction & Warner Music India announce strategic partnership with Artium Academy

    Mumbai: Online music education platform Artium Academy has entered into a strategic partnership with JetSynthesys’ digital entertainment subsidiary Global Music Junction and Warner Music India.

    This collaboration will help these entities to identify, nurture and scale aspiring talents at the academy, helping put them on the national and global map while collectively building on content-creation, artist management, revenue generation, digital monetisation, branding and sponsorships.

    Artium Academy, co-founded by Ashish Joshi, Vivek Raicha and Nithya Sudhir, boasts a panel of maestros including Sonu Nigam, KS Chithra, Shubha Mudgal, Ananth Vaidyanathan, Aruna Sairam, Louis Banks and Raju Singh, has worked towards its core objective of offering training to aspiring singers, composers and instrumentalists to enable them to reach their full potential and eventually step into the spotlight both in India and globally. Global Music Junction, along with Warner Music India, will work towards taking these performers on to their next level of growth, supporting their livelihood and creating music IPs and high-class content. Together, they will also identify avenues of revenue generation, digital monetization, branding and sponsorships.

    JetSynthesys founder and CEO Rajan Navani said, “In a bid to fuel the growth of digital entertainment further in India, Global Music Junction and Warner Music India have joined forces with Artium Academy to take another step towards putting Indian talent on the global map. While Global Music Junction and Artium Academy will work towards scaling the talents on the platform, along with identifying and nurturing them for the future, Warner Music India will work on the global repertoire of these talented budding artists, giving their exposure an international leg. Together, our eventual goal is to work towards creating more global musical maestros from our country.”

    JetSynthesys is known for its global publishing partnerships with the likes of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood star Salman Khan, heavyweight Floyd Mayweather, and brands like WWE, Square Enix, and Warner Music Group (WMG).

    “Artium Academy offers a world-class faculty and state-of-the-art facilities to train students through personalised performance-based music learning, be it in the space of vocals, compositions or instruments. We are excited to tie-up with veterans in the digital entertainment and talent management space that will further help us scale our platform to the next level,” said Artium Academy founder and CEO Ashish Joshi.

    Artium Academy aims to make learning music fun and accessible to people of all ages through modules that are designed by industry maestros and taught at a 1:1 ratio by Artium-certified teachers. The four courses offered at the Academy are vocals, strings, keyboard and percussion.

    “Music is instrumental in the Indian entertainment industry, and we have seen a rising interest among aspiring performers to learn the nuances professionally. We aim to tap into that potential through this association and amplify the reach across audience groups. We also want to ensure that on-boarded talents get world-class support to fulfil their dreams and be the stars of tomorrow,” said Global Music Junction CEO Rajkumar Singh.

  • Jetsynthesys launches invest & operate gaming startup Jetapult

    Jetsynthesys launches invest & operate gaming startup Jetapult

    Mumbai: Digital entertainment and technology company, Jetsynthesys has launched invest and operate (I&O) gaming startup ‘Jetapult’ which has announced its first acquisition. In the next 8-9 months, the company plans to invest $100 million in acquiring gaming studios with strong growth potential.

    Jetapult will be led by Sharan Tulsiani, whose previous experience includes leading gaming at Google Play Asia – India and ANZ markets, along with their Indie Games Accelerator (IGA). Apart from Tulsiani, the team also comprises Yash Baid (COO) and Mangesh Anaokar.

    Baid was previously principal and head of research at 3one4 Capital and partner at 256 Network. Anaokar has extensive M&A (mergers and acquisition) and investment experience having led investments and portfolio management at Bennett, Coleman and Co.

    The team is further bolstered by veteran industry experts and advisors like Ryo Shima (ex-COO GREE), James Cho (ex-Blizzard, Bethesda, Zynga), Angelo Lobo (ex-director Zynga), Dennis Sullivan (ex-Wargaming) and Hyunsu Bang (ex-GREE).

    Jetapult will focus on acquiring and scaling revenue-generating Indie game development studios across emerging markets like India, South-East Asia, the Middle East, South America as well as Australia, and New Zealand, to fill a dearth of long-term smart capital in the industry.

    Moreover, the start-up will create and grow an exciting roster of gaming companies commercially from a local market setting to an international perspective for a scientific and sustainable scale.

    “Over the years, we have seen the gaming industry pick up steam, and the road ahead looks brighter than ever. There are several talented gaming studios with great ideas who can truly scale themselves with the right mentorship and funding,” said JetSynthesys VC and MD Rajan Navani. “Recognizing this market need, we decided to launch Jetapult on the back of JetSynthesys’ very successful model of acquiring and rapidly scaling gaming studios using global expertise and world-class partnerships. With the three-pronged approach of Acquire, Invest, Accelerate, Jetapult is all ready to come out of stealth now, having already made one crucial acquisition. Built on the Invest and Operate (I&O) model, we believe Jetapult will be a game-changer in the industry. With an expert team that has a collective experience spanning decades, the start-up will strengthen Indian gaming’s position on the global map further.”

    “Building high grossing hits in the gaming industry are often misrepresented to be luck-based, coin-flip endeavours. This cannot be further from the truth.,” said Jetapult CEO and co-founder Sharan Tulsiani. “Making games is a passionately creative endeavour, but scaling them intrinsically is a scientific one. This was a hypothesis taken on and solved with tremendous success at the biggest distribution platform for gaming, Google Play Store. The systematic acceleration programs like the Google Global Indie Games Accelerator and others that I created were a product of this sustainable scale challenge. Our key learning was that supporting genius designers in small studios requires a village of supplemental expertise across domains like game and economy design, product and engineering, user acquisition, etc. Witnessing the multi-fold successes coming out of these programs, I felt very motivated to scale these advisory frameworks that didn’t reach enough in the vast but talented gaming industry.”

    He further said, “The Jetapult I&O model will democratise gaming expertise and open opportunities at scale by partnering with talented studios in emerging markets. Helping them implement foundational frameworks and scientific-decision making will catalyse the long-term growth of the studios, its teams, and revenues.”

    “Investment leaders are well aware of the stellar investment returns that game studios offer, which even benefits from economic downturns, as was witnessed during Covid. However, there is a severe dearth of smart capital and meaningful support for these studios in the industry today,” said Jetapult COO and co-founder Yash Baid. “Jetapult is a product of years of working closely with game studio developers to identify their requirements and create access to smart and patient capital, scaled by partnering with marquee venture equity and debt investors. We are built to keep small gaming studios at the centre of our operational ethos and aim to grow them into generational companies out of emerging markets like India.”

    Jetapult’s key selection criteria for acquiring a gaming studio would be its growth potential, presence of a strong team and revenue generation along with a review of the games they make, a genre they are following, and capacity of growth for the team.

    The startup is in the process of bringing capital and top gaming industry leaders across free-to-play game design, product management, user acquisition, and analytics to its portfolio of gaming studios.

  • Girish Menon joins Jetsynthesys as chief strategy officer

    Girish Menon joins Jetsynthesys as chief strategy officer

    Mumbai: Jetsynthesys has appointed Girish Menon as chief strategy officer, according to his recent LinkedIn update.

    He was previously associated with KPMG as a partner for its media and entertainment practice. Jetsynthesys is an IT services and consulting company specialising in gaming, esports and entertainment domain.

    Menon is a professional with over 25 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions, strategy and consulting with a specialisation in media, digital, gaming & consumer internet domains.

    He has been associated with KPMG for 21 years out of which 14 years were spent in the deal advisory practice covering strategy and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory. He has also had an entrepreneurial stint heading a film studio venture and also held the role of head strategy at Balaji Telefilms.

  • JetSynthesys, Warner Music launch podcast for women of South Asian diaspora

    JetSynthesys, Warner Music launch podcast for women of South Asian diaspora

    Mumbai: Digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys and Warner Music India have come together to launch “EkWomen,” a podcasting and networking platform for women of the South Asian diaspora. The podcast is available on audio streaming platform – Spotify.

    “EkWomen” is conceived and produced by JetSynthesys’ Medha Jaishankar (BBC World former producer and Reliance Entertainment consultant) and Monika Patel (journalist/host Midday, Uppercrust, and JetSynthesys’ Daily Hinduism video series and Mata Monique podcasts).

    The podcast addresses a lacuna in the podcast world by creating a global sisterhood through uplifting stories of the struggles and successes faced by diaspora women of South Asian heritage. In the next phase, it plans to add community building and on-the-ground networking sessions across several countries including India.

    The interviewees include – “Chopped” show judge and chef Maneet Chauhan; celebrity make-up artist and entrepreneur Shalini Vadhera; ClassPass founder, dancer, and novelist Payal Kadakia; yogini and novelist Ira Trivedi; Teach For India founder Shaheen Mistri; leading UK Muslim female comic Shazia Mirza; Kama Sutra expert, storyteller, and mythologist Seema Anand; philanthropist and humanitarian Meera Gandhi; artist Sujata Bajaj, Pulitzer award-winning journalist and Dean of Berkeley School of Journalism Geeta Anand, and author, activist and academic Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

    “At JetSynthesys, we have always aimed at building social communities, not just to bring people together, but to connect thoughts and ideologies. We are extremely delighted to join hands with Warner Music India once again to launch ‘EkWomen,’ providing strength and support to South Asian diasporic women aiming to overcome challenges and achieve their dreams,” says JetSynthesys vice-chairman and MD Rajan Navani.

    “The podcasts on the platform have been thoughtfully curated with stories of victories and struggles. We will soon bolster our other offerings on the platform to build a stronger network and a support system across the world,” he adds.

     “We are delighted to launch ‘EkWomen’ in association with JetSynthesys. The initiative focuses on building an inspiring ecosystem for millions of South Asian women and empowering them with a hope to create their own success stories,” shares Warner Music India MD Jay Mehta.

  • Nodwin Gaming gets Rs 164 crore backing from PUBG creator Krafton

    Nodwin Gaming gets Rs 164 crore backing from PUBG creator Krafton

    KOLKATA: Built on the world's largest youth demographic and fuelled by affordable smartphone and data prices, e-sports has seen a surging demand which has led to Nodwin Gaming receiving a minority investment of Rs 164 crore from South Korean gaming firm Krafton. 

    Nodwin Gaming will channelise these funds to accelerate the development of e-sports in South Asia, Middle East and Africa, support talent, provide better gaming infrastructure and technology and conceptualise, organise and execute a multitude of tournament IPs at the national and international level.

    This round of funding follows previous investments from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies and from JetSynthesys backed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. 

    “Esports will be a key pillar to the growth of sports entertainment in the future. It sits at a wonderful intersection of sports, entertainment and technology where nations such as India can pave the path. With Krafton coming on board, we have an endorsement from the mecca of gaming and e-sports – South Korea, on what we are building from India for the world based on our competence in mobile first markets,” said Nodwin Gaming co-founder and managing director Akshat Rathee. 

    Krafton is one of the top gaming companies in South Korea and is the creator of intellectual properties and games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), TERA, Golf King, Castle Burn among others.

    India banned PUBG and hundreds of other apps with affiliation to China last year citing cybersecurity concerns. Krafton has been attempting to bring PUBG Mobile back in India, with no luck yet. To assuage the Indian government’s concerns about users’ security, the South Korean firm said it had cut ties with Chinese publisher Tencent.

    Krafton CEO Changhan Kim said, “Krafton is excited to partner with Nodwin Gaming to help foster the promising esports ecosystem and engage with our fans and players in India. Taking the momentum from this partnership, we will explore additional investment opportunities in the region to uphold our commitment and dedication in cultivating the local video game, esports, entertainment, and tech industries.”

    Post the transaction, Nazara will continue to own a stake in excess of 50 per cent in Nodwin Gaming. Nazara invested the e-sports firm in 2018 and this investment has created a value in excess of 6.44X in three years.

    Nazara technologies CEO Manish Agarwal said, “Nazara has been an early and strong believer in the potential of esports to disrupt the sports entertainment market and we believe this partnership between Krafton and the Nazara group will accelerate the growth of esports and open doors for collaboration between Indian and Korean gaming companies in future.” 

    JetSynthesys VC and MD Rajan Navani, the founder investor who helped envision Nodwin Gaming at the conception stage itself, added, “We identified the early opportunity in esports as a key pillar to build the gaming ecosystem in India and this investment is an endorsement of the tremendous potential of esports in the journey of a new Atmanirbhar Bharat. Akshat, Gautam and other members of the founding team are true gems of a youthful India that is raring to conquer the world and we at JetSynthesys are excited about what the future holds for us.”