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<ul><li><keyword id="8484184" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Baazi-Games">Baazi Games</keyword>, the company responsible for gaming platforms like <keyword id="3809787" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pokerbaazi">PokerBaazi</keyword>, <keyword id="11683311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="rummybaazi-and-ballebaazi">RummyBaazi and BalleBaazi</keyword> has been witnessing 70% growth over the last few years. This year, it aims to grow its current user base of 10 million by 100%.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="11683312" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="varun-ganjoo">Varun Ganjoo</keyword>, Co-Founder &amp; Marketing Director at Baazi Games who takes us behind the scenes and tells us all that has been happening at Baazi Games and how the platform is working towards achieving the growth it is aiming for.</li></ul>Fantasy gaming in India has been witnessing a surge in the last few years, thanks to better and cheaper internet connections and the increasing adoption of smartphones, even in smaller cities. While cricket still rules in terms of the number of users it attracts, there are other games and sports that are increasingly finding takers. For Baazi Games, that came into existence around 7 years back, it has been an interesting journey. The platform, started by poker lovers, was aimed at giving players a great experience, since poker hadn’t yet become very popular in India yet. From there, the platform has now diversified to other sports and come up with two more segments, RummyBaazi and BalleBaazi. That people are open to not just playing online games but also spending on gaming platforms is clear from the fact that Baazi Games has been witnessing a 70% growth in the last three years. The platform charges entry fees for leagues that it organizes on its platform and takes out around 3-4% of the entry fee pool as its commission. We recently spoke to Varun Ganjoo, Co-Founder &amp; Marketing Director at Baazi Games who took us behind the scenes and told us all that has been happening and how the platform is growing itself. Excerpts: Q) It’s been 7 years since the launch of Baazi Games. Can you walk us through your journey so far? The idea came to us back in 2013. The founding team comprised of people who loved poker and were really passionate about the game. Back then, there weren't any good platforms for online poker. It took us a year to finalize the structure, figure out the legalities and develop the software. We launched in October 2014 with PokerBaazi. As our experience grew, we thought of diversifying, and that's how we launched our fantasy vertical BalleBaazi in January 2018. In 2019, we launched our Rummy vertical, RummyBaazi. Over the years, apart from diversifying into these multiple, skill-based gaming platforms, we have also tried to change the perception of the audience around games like poker. People used to think poker or anything related to cards is gambling. However, the continuous efforts of the industry and a lot of initiatives we took over the years has helped in changing the perception at quite a fast pace. Also, we realized that since this is gaming where there is money involved, there could be an addiction factor. While there is no central regulation yet, we decided to self-regulate. Responsible gaming is very critical if we have to grow sustainably. So we were the first platform to have a proper, automated responsible gaming system in place which keeps a check on users and alarms them if they are showing signs of addiction. They can then restrict their gameplay or take a break from the platform entirely. But if we were to talk about important milestones, it would be the recently concluded National Poker Series, which is by far India's biggest poker online poker tournament in terms of volume. We saw participation of over 83,000 people across 15 days. Secondly, we are very proud of our new mobile application that we launched in May. We are a part of a product-heavy industry and since we work on own tech in-house entirely, we understand the importance tech plays and this new latest technology has really put us on a global map. Q) What impact has the pandemic had on the business? The last 1.5 years has been a roller coaster ride, there have been a lot of ups and downs. While there was a spike in terms of casual or card-based gaming segments, the fantasy industry which is closely related to live sporting events, was hit due to the shutting down of all sporting events across the world. For poker and rummy, we saw a 30% spike in user base in the initial periods of the lockdown. That was the time when people really got to experience the online version of gaming. We saw a huge jump in games like Ludo. It also came as a welcome distraction for people during these terrible times. And then, it was easier for them to just get onto their mobile phones and spend some time and have fun. Some research shows that the average playing time of users in India grew from about 2.5 hours to 4 hours post-Covid. So these are some of the changes that had a positive impact. But for fantasy sports, during the initial four months of the lockdown when no sport was happening, it was a zero revenue phase for BalleBaazi. But since we are a product-centric company, we utilized that time to make a lot of changes, implement product improvisations and introduce new formats in the game. We came up with a lot of interesting virtual gaming formats where there was no real money involved but it kept the users engaged. Overall, the industry has been growing. For us, the growth has been continuous over the past few years. We have grown at a CAGR of around 70% at a group level in the past three years and the lockdown was just an additional spike. Q) Out of the three verticals at Baazi Games, which has been growing the fastest? Are you also exploring other sports and verticals? BalleBaazi has games like football and kabaddi but cricket is still the biggest crowd pleaser and it makes for around 85-90% of the revenues. Out of our 10 million user base for our entire group, 7 million would be for BalleBaazi. But poker is the highest ticket ticket game. So, contribution wise, around 50% would be coming from PokerBaazi. However, poker is still at a very nascent stage in India. And we being at the top, it's our responsibility to grow the industry. So these numbers will also grow but right now we stand at around 2 million for PokerBaazi. Q) The last few years have seen a lot of fantasy gaming platforms come up, especially in the cricket segment. How are you driving differentiation? When we set up the platforms, our aim was to give our users a superior experience. But in the fantasy segment, there are some big brands that have been in the space for about 10-12 years now. So our focus was also on innovation. When we launched, we came up with some interesting formats that are still unique to us, like our batting and bowling fantasy format. That has helped us draw attention and attract users. Also, we were able to acquire some hardcore fantasy users pretty early on. We feel that our existing set of players will be able to fetch us more. So referral programs are at the centre of our expansion campaigns. We have one of the best referral programs in the market and we will keep improvising on that too. Q) Have you considered advertising on the platform to add to your revenue stream? That is always an opportunity but we have specifically chosen not to go on that route. And the reason for that is, the games we have on our platforms, while they are fun games, they aren’t exactly casual. So we want to give that wholesome experience to them and not disrupt that experience by adding ad streams, for now at least. Q) Since games like poker come with some stigma, how are you educating people? When we started, we were the first brand in the online, real money-gaming segment to get a celebrity on board. At that time, we had associated with Sunny Leone for a digital partnership because her digital presence was huge at that time. That helped us raise awareness about the game. And the content also focused on the skill aspect. Eventually, we hired a set of professionals who we called the PokerBaazi Team Pro, who did a lot of webinars that would talk about things like how probability is involved in the game or how it's a skill-based game. Apart from that, we also associated with a lot of top educational institutions. But this is a continuous effort. So in the next phase, you will see a lot of content creation happening around these games because this is also how we will raise awareness and get more people engaged. For poker, we have a live room in Goa where we have a tie up with a casino there to organize our big live tournaments. We have a proper streaming setup there where we generate a lot of live poker content which we advertise digitally. That also helps spread a lot of awareness. Q) Apart from these webinars and live events, how are you reaching out to your audience? What does your broader marketing plan looks like? While TV is an important medium, our strategy is not to jump onto it right now because for us, it makes sense to advertise where our audience is. Our audiences are digitally-savvy and there are a lot of channels like OTT, social media and influencer market that can help us engage with them. These channels will continue to play an important role in the future. Also, you get a lot of specific and in-depth targeting options on digital which helps us to specifically pick and choose campaigns that we wish to do and target the intended demographics. So going ahead, we would continue to focus on digital. Q) What targets have you set for yourself for this year? What kind of growth do you anticipate? We have been growing and we wish to continue growing at 70% CAGR. In terms of user base, if everything sets in well, we hope to see a 100% growth in the new user base at a group level in FY 2022. Q) What is your larger vision for Baazi Games? We want to be known as the biggest homegrown tech brand that specializes in gaming and also the one brand which is just a whistle away from its consumers. That is something that we have enjoyed so far in the industry, especially for poker, where people regard us as the best customer support and the customer experience organization. We understand the intricacies of minute things too. For a game like poker or rummy, where you would have to spend hours, even the color of the felt or the size of the number on the card matters. That is the kind of details we get into. It’s only possible to further improve that experience if we are closer to our audiences and that’s where we would want to be.

We want to be known as the biggest home-grown tech brand that specializes in gaming: Varun Ganjoo, Baazi Games

<ul><li>The online fantasy sports segment in India is growing by leaps and bounds.</li><li>One such player that has been witnessing good growth is BalleBaazi. With a current base of 40 lakh users, the platform has seen a 500% increase in CAGR in FY 19-20.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="5742232" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saurabh-Chopra">Saurabh Chopra</keyword>, CEO, <keyword id="8484186" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BalleBaazi-com">BalleBaazi.com</keyword> who told us about the growth it the platform has seen in the last 12 months, the factors that contributed to its growth and the platform’s strategy to further expand its presence in the market.</li></ul>Online gaming in India has witnessed unprecedented growth in the last few years. While till a few years back there were a handful of players in the country, there were over 140 operators by the end of 2019. A recent report by <keyword id="9545140" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-federation-of-indian-fantasy-sports">the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports</keyword> (FIFS) and KPMG titled ‘Business of Fantasy Sports’ stated that Online Fantasy Sports (OFS) operators’ gross revenues stood at Rs 2,400+ crore for the FY20 as compared to Rs 920+ crore in FY19 which was an increase of almost 3X over a period of 12 months. Even during the ongoing <keyword id="6354831" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-premier-league">Indian Premier League</keyword>, many online gaming platforms have been battling each other to grab maximum eyeballs. One such player that has been witnessing good growth is BalleBaazi. With a current userbase of 40 Lakh users, the platform seen a 500% increase in CAGR in FY 19-20. We recently caught up with Saurabh Chopra, CEO, BalleBaazi.com who spoke to us about the growth it has seen in the last 12 months, the factors that contributed to its growth and the platform’s strategy to further expand its presence in the market. Excerpts: Q) The fantasy sports segment has seen a boom this year. How has BalleBaazi's year been so far? The Online Fantasy Sports (OFS) industry has witnessed an upsurge in the past few years, especially in 2019 when the market saw a spiraling ascent, sparking the onset of many new players in the industry. While the industry currently has 140+ operators, BalleBaazi.com has been one of the first and the highest grossing platforms. We can boast of an extremely loyal userbase of core fantasy gaming enthusiasts and we see BalleBaazi.com posting a D-30 retention of 40% for its newly acquired users, which is significantly higher than the industry standard. Even when live sporting events had come to a halt, we kept our fans engaged via Virtual Fantasy Leagues and quizzes which enhanced their knowledge and eventually their skill of their respective sports. We have seen a constant rise in our business as we posted an increase of 500% CAGR in FY 19-20. The next 24 months will also be an exciting time for us as we get set to witness the cricketing fiesta, which has 3 IPLs and 2 World Cups. We are well-equipped and have charted out a detailed plan to grow our business significantly in this period. We have utilized this sports break to further enhance our tech stack which is now capable of handling upwards of 1 million concurrent users on the app. Q)What kind of impact did the pandemic have on your platform? Did you witness a huge spike in terms of consumers coming on board, like a lot of other games have? While Baazi Games’ other platforms – PokerBaazi.com and <keyword id="10080501" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="rummybaazi-com">RummyBaazi.com</keyword> – saw a huge rise in participation, BalleBaazi.com, which is solely dependent on live sporting events witnessed a temporary dip in the traffic during this period. However, we kept our fans engaged by conducting Virtual Fantasy Leagues, Quizzes, and adding international sports like Baseball and Basketball. We kept our users enticed through our other gaming arms, resulting in a rise on our Rummy-based and Poker-based platforms. These applications aim at providing a favorable user experience and aim to expand their userbase in 2021 whilst adapting to the market rapidly. Q) What kind of potential does India present for the fantasy sports segment? What kind of growth has it been witnessing and what does the future hold? How are you contributing to that growth? India has a huge potential for Fantasy Sports as internet access has expanded according to a report published by the governing body of Fantasy Sports in India –The Federation of India Fantasy Sports (FIFS) – 2019 saw an overall turnover of Rs 920+ crore and due to work from home being adapted during the pandemic, it has even predicted the revenues to grow 3x as it may touch Rs 2,400+ crore in 2020. It also showed a rapid increase in the user base of Online Fantasy Platforms as the participants increased from 2 million in 2016 to 9 Million in 2019. The industry has also seen more players emerging as it increased from 10 operators in 2016 to 140+ operators by the end of 2019. With increasing number of users, the Contest Entry Amount (CEA) also shot up as it registered a total of Rs 16,500 crore in FY20 in comparison to Rs 6,000 crore in FY19. For a country which worships cricket and its players, BalleBaazi.com offers a safe and authentic platform for users to apply their understanding of a sport which they follow religiously and use their expertise to create a team, make suitable combinations and analyse each and every player’s performance basis their understanding, which makes for a well-informed decision eventually. These stats highlight the Indian market’s appetite for OFS platforms and the rise for BalleBaazi.com as well. While we have new OFS platforms emerging, it boils down to the platform which provides a credible experience and we have been appreciated for the same by our consumers. Q) How do players benefit from being on BalleBaazi? BalleBaazi.com offers users a chance to use their skill and knowledge of the game to win real cash and rewards. When you are victorious in a match, you get real cash. On the other hand, when you lose, you don’t really lose; you get BB Coins, which can be redeemed for vouchers and merchandise at our BB rewards store. This aforementioned module of ours is called the Reward Programme, which is a one-of-a-kind offering in the industry. Our gadget leagues and free-rolls are quite popular among fantasy fans, across the country. Other than that, we have partnered with many brands on a cross-value proposition to maximize our audience outreach and provide our users with many various offerings from this aspect. BalleBaazi.com has been providing state-of-the-art gaming experience through its mobile and web products, backed by formidable operations and a 24/7 customer support. Q) What is your USP? How are you different from other gaming apps? We started our operations in the market in 2018 with a singular mission of providing ‘The Best Fantasy Sports Experience’ in the field of Cricket. We designed our app and website keeping in mind the love and passion our nation shares for the game. Along with ensuring that no one leaves empty-handed when they make their teams on BalleBaazi with our Reward Programme, we also offer options of Batting and Bowling Fantasy, separately. Long story short, our versatility is our USP. After a successful start to the platform with Fantasy Cricket, we ventured into other sports as well, such as Football, Kabaddi, and even Basketball and Baseball, along with Quiz formats for our users to learn and enhance the skill of their respective sports. With #Playerfirst as our guiding principle, we make sure our users have the smoothest, fun &amp; safe gaming experience. There are various SSL protocols that enable BalleBaazi.com to become one the most secure sports platform as users' money is safely transacted through deposits and withdrawals. We are constantly on the lookout for new concepts in Fantasy Gaming and believe in contributing our best to the arena of skill &amp; knowledge gaming. Q)How do you plan to expand your presence? What is your growth strategy going to be, going ahead? How are you going about getting investments to fuel your growth? Baazi Games is on track to achieve the proposed expansion in userbase from 5 million to 50 million in the next 24-36 months. Additionally, we have expanded our product portfolio to cater to various customers. Besides this BalleBaazi.com caters to various sports apart, which will enhance the consumer’s outlook and widen their perspective in terms of sports and will help us achieve that target. Also, taking our community feedback into consideration, we are continuously working towards re-vamping the Machine Learning based AI for real-time matches, enhancing the UI UX to be gamified with a minimalistic design philosophy. Year after year, we’ve shown results to our investors. Even during the pandemic, we had managed to entertain our users by introducing new features on our platform. We wish to keep at it when it comes to innovation and proving our worth. Now would be the time to jump onto the bandwagon and reap huge profits by investing in the growing sector of fantasy sports and BalleBaazi.com that’s destined to become India’s go-to fantasy sports platform. Q) What is your vision for BalleBaazi? Do you have a target in place, in terms of revenue, user base? We have planned to add another 2 Million to our Baazigar community in the upcoming Indian Premier League as it’s one of the biggest revenue-generators and growth-drivers for fantasy gaming apps. We are all set to go all guns blazing for this season. Moreover, we are among the top 4 fantasy gaming apps in the country in terms of traffic and would want build on that. Q) A lot of Indian games are doing well globally too. Do you have any plans of testing international waters? Currently, our aim is to become the best in the gaming industry of our country. While we understand a lot of the industry-leaders are venturing into International waters, we feel it is important to ascertain our foothold in the Indian market first, before we expand to different markets. However, we can’t rule that out as BalleBaazi.com is a universal platform which has the potential to engage every sporting enthusiast.

We have seen a constant rise in our business as we posted an increase of 500% CAGR in FY 19-20: Saurabh Chopra, CEO, BalleBaazi.com

New Delhi, Dec 24 () Baazi Games on Tuesday said it plans to pump in USD 5 million (about Rs 35 crore) in Indian gaming industry by investing in gaming start-ups and towards development of technology.
 "The investment is planned to take place during the next 6 months. The company will be looking to invest in innovative gaming start-ups and in developing latest gaming technology," it said in a statement.
 With this investment, the company is looking to expand operations and explore the ever-so-growing potential of the 'games of skill' market in India, it added.
 The Indian gaming space is expected to grow at 22 per cent CAGR and has been attracting big investments in the last couple of years.
 "Baazi Games has played a major role in revolutionizing the way card games and fantasy sports are played in the country today. Our investment of USD 5 million in the Indian gaming industry will further catalyse the growth of the industry and pave way for newer innovations," Baazi Games founder and CEO Navkiran Singh said.
 Earlier this year, Baazi Games had invested USD 1 million in its fantasy cricket vertical BalleBaazi.com, which later raised USD 4 million from private equity funds in July 2019.
 The company also expanded its card games vertical by launching RummyBaazi.com. SR RVK

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We want to be known as the biggest home-grown tech brand that specializes in gaming: Varun Ganjoo, Baazi Games

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We have seen a constant rise in our business as we posted an increase of 500% CAGR in FY 19-20: Saurabh Chopra, CEO, BalleBaazi.com

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Baazi Games to invest USD 5 mn in start-ups, developing technology

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