Gaming
Marcos Gaming joins Rs 2 crore Skyesports Masters: India’s first franchised Esports league
Mumbai: Marcos Gaming, India’s homegrown esports brand, has been confirmed as a franchise in India’s biggest gaming tournament, the Skyesports Masters. The organisation will soon be unveiling its CSGO roster, which will fight for a share of the Rs 2,00,00,000 prize pool.
The Skyesports Masters is set to kick off with the League Stage on 8 July. Eight franchised teams will lock horns across several weeks with the top four teams advancing to the Playoffs. Set to happen on 26 & 27 Aug as an on-ground LAN event, the Skyesports Masters Playoffs are set to be an affair like never before in Indian esports, setting a benchmark for the industry.
Marcos Gaming is set to sign a five-man roster for CSGO to compete in the Skyesports Masters. Additionally, the organisation will be adding two players from the cafe qualifiers. The Skyesports Masters cafe qualifiers are happening across two weekends on 17 & 18 June; and 24 & 25 June, are a grassroots effort which aims to recognise and uplift the best talent from 20 different cities across the country.
Commenting on entering the Skyesports Masters, Marcos Gaming founder Sudhir Kumar said, “I am thrilled to be entering India’s first franchised esports league. We believe in the vision of Shiva and Skyesports which was one of our primary motivations to enter the league. The franchise model is important in esports as it brings structure to the industry with a fixed set of deliverables, allowing us to close brand deals easier. There is still work to be done for reviving Counter-Strike in India, and we are here for the long run with the Skyesports Masters and are looking forward to growing this promising title.”
Marcos Gaming is an organisation focused on bringing a family culture to its esports roster and will be signing and nurturing a roster with the same goal. The organisation has strived to commit to Counter-Strike in the long run and hopes to go on to represent the country internationally.
Commenting on the joining of Marcos Gaming into the esports tournament, Skyesports CEO & founder Shiva Nandy said, “We are delighted to welcome Marcos Gaming as one of the franchised teams in the Skyesports Masters. The tournament will serve as a gateway for the revival of Counter-Strike in India and we need organisations who are committed to being the catalyst for this. Akhil’s and Marcos’ long-term commitment is aligned with our goals for the league and the game.”
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
