Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Tech invests $2.5 million in US-based game fund Bitkraft as it looks to expand its presence beyond India

• Nazara Technologies is an India-based gaming and sports media platform.
• Its latest investment is in a US-based company called Bitkraft, with the aim to tap into the company’s network to expand Nazara’s global presence.
• Earlier, Nazara partnered with Vodafone Idea to offer its portfolio of mobile games to the telco’s 230 million strong base of subscribers.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies has invested $2.5 million in a US-based game fund, Bitkraft Ventures. The investment has been made by Nazara Tech’s Singapore arm and two-thirds of the amount will be deployed over a period of three years.

Nazara Tech’s shares rose by nearly 3% on Tuesday before cooling down later. Despite a recent rally, the gaming company’s shares are down by nearly 29% in 2022 so far.

Apart from this, Nazara also announced a partnership with Vodafone Idea as it looks to push further into mobile gaming. At the time, Nazara’s founder and managing director, Nitish Mittersain said he sees gaming as not only the “future of entertainment”, but also the present.

Now, the partnership with US-based Bitkraft allows Nazara to dip its toes into the gaming industry beyond India. Bitkraft is a US-based game fund that invests in the global e-sports ecosystem.

“Over the course of the next few years, this investment will enable us to work towards realising our strategic vision of becoming the catalysts to empower the global gaming community and chart the next stage of growth in an increasingly connected and virtual world,” said Manish Agarwal, the chief executive officer of Nazara Technologies.

Complimenting its ‘Friends of Nazara’ network

Nazara has its own network called ‘Friends of Nazara’, which includes the likes of Kiddopia, Nodwin, Sportskeeda, World Cricket Championship 3, among others.

Now, to compliment this, Nazara wants to tap into Bitkraft’s gaming network to further strengthen its Indian portfolio.

“The partnership will help to increase the connectivity into the highly strategic Indian video games market. We have done multiple investments in the subcontinent and intend to do more in the future, in addition to supporting international investment to drive growth in India,” said Malte Barth, founding general partner at Bitkraft Ventures.

According to a report by a research firm, Niko Partners, India is one of the fastest growing gaming markets in Asia, with a quarter of the gamers being Indians.

In terms of revenue, the Indian gaming market is poised to grow three-fold to $1.5 billion by 2025, from $0.5 billion in 2021. In the same period, nearly 200 million new gamers are expected to join in, growing from the existing base of 340 million.


Source: Niko Partners

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