India-based gaming platform MPL (Mobile Premier League) has reportedly secured up to $35.5 million in its latest Series A funding round. The latest investment involved the participation of Sequoia India, GoVentures and Times Internet, alongside other investors including BeeNext, RTP Global, Venture Highway and Base Growth.
MPL, which claims to have more than 25 million registered signups across iOS and Android, aims to deploy the new funds to accelerate product marketing as well as user growth efforts in the country, cite sources with the knowledge of the development.
For the record, MPL, launched in September last year, is an influential platform for mobile gamers who focus on gaming genres such as skill-based/puzzle, arcade, adventure games, sports and many more. The platform is widely recognized for hosting multiplayer tournaments on its platform, with huge cash prizes.
The Bengaluru-based gaming company was co-founded by Sai Srinivas Kiran, an ex-Zynga executive, and Shubh Malhotra. For the uninitiated, both Kiran and Malhotra had formerly co-founded CREO – a hardware start-up which was eventually acquired by Hike Messenger in the year 2017.
A major portion of the user base of MPL comprises non-metro cities, claim sources.
Chief Executive Sai Srinivas Kiran said that the company looks to build the largest mobile esports platform in India that everybody can access. The competitive gaming landscape in the country is increasingly mobile-centric, and MPL intends to become the ultimate platform of choice in this context, for the users.
Elaborating on monetization, Kiran claimed that the company would be charging users for taking part in online tournaments and also through brand sponsorships.
Reportedly, the latest funding round comes amid a scenario where fantasy gaming start-ups have been closing huge funding rounds from Indian as well as global tech investors. Say for instance, PORTAL Dream 11, a Mumbai-based fantasy gaming start-up, raised nearly $100 million from China’s Tencent last September.
Source Credits: https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/gaming-start-up-mpl-raised-35-5-million-from-sequoia-others-1556083296381.html