This Seven-Month-Old Gaming Startup Tops Up $35 Million
The funding round was led by Sequoia India, Times Internet Ltd. and GoVentures,
Digital gaming startup Mobile Premier League raised $35.5 million from a clutch of investors as it looks to expand its user base.
This is the e-gaming company’s second funding round in just five months, taking the overall fundraise to $40.5 million so far.
The funding was led by Sequoia India, Times Internet Ltd. and GoVentures, the investment arm of Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm Go-Jek. The growth round funding also saw the participation of other investors such as RTP Global, BeeNext, Base Growth and Venture Highway, the company said in a statement.
The seven-month-old startup which has roped in Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador will use the funds to invest in strengthening product infrastructure and expand its user base, Sai Srinivas Kiran G, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mobile Premier League told BloombergQuint over the phone. The startup, he said, also aims to use these funds to expand to overseas markets.
“Our goal is to build India's largest e-sports platform,” Srinivas said, adding that MPL users can access all formats and types of competitive games.
Founded in 2018 by Srinivas and Shubham Malhotra, the startup allows users to play games such as sudoku, crosswords, cricket etc. MPL, Srinivas said, has been downloaded by 25 million users in the country so far.
Besides the free version, the gaming app also has a paid model where a user can join a tournament by paying an entry fee.
India’s gaming market is expected to clock Rs 12,000 crore in revenue by 2023, according to a KPMG-IFSG report.
The fundraise comes days after fantasy gaming startup Dream11 became India’s first gaming unicorn. GamingMonk, Nazara, Halaplay, Mecha Mocha, among others are some of the gaming startups in the country.