iWorld
Dell partners with Voot to launch Dell XPS Youniverse Creators
Mumbai: Dell Technologies and OTT streaming service Voot are coming together to launch Dell XPS Youniverse Creators.
The show will focus on creators, who excel in various art forms, coming together in a creative residency to collaborate and create masterpieces using the Dell XPS. Dell XPS Youniverse Creators will be hosted by musician and actor Monica Dogra.
“The aim of the series is to propel the youth to introspect about what inspires them by capturing a creator’s journey of diving deep into their creations and themselves,” said the statement.
The show will revolve around 10 artists from different worlds who come together to create five masterpieces. The format of the show is such that in each episode two creators will collaborate and merge their creative templates to co-create a masterpiece. The participants will work on their creation using the Dell XPS laptop.
The series will feature creators from a plethora of backgrounds – art, photography, music, filmmaking and dance to name a few. The creators include award winning chef Amninder Sahu and documentary photographer Hashim Badani, graffiti Artist Hanif Kureshi and spatial artist Asim Waqif, stylist and content creator Kayaan Contractor and spoken word poet Priya Malik, theatrical pianist Sahil Vasudeva and animator Sidhant Gandhi, actor and movement practitioner Faria Abdullah and visual artist Vimal Chandran.
“At Voot we strive to ink partnerships with brands that share our vision,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures head – AVOD (Voot) Chanpreet Arora. “Dell XPS Youniverse Creators is a category disruptive format that aims to inspire the creative industry at large. The concept to propel young minds to get inspired by creators and their journey sets the show apart from others, creating a one-of-its-kind experience for our users. We are excited about this collaboration with Dell and look forward to bringing more such creative content to Voot.”
“Dell has a great lineup of XPS laptops which are future facing and especially designed for the young creators,” said Dell Technologies marketing director (consumer) Mayuri Saikia. “Light but mighty, these sleek machines made from premium material, have a 4-sided InfinityEdge Display with 100 per cent Adobe RGB color gamut for an immersive screen experience, higher battery life and powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel core processors which propel creation.”
She further added, “This Youniverse campaign with Voot is a 5-episodic ode to the creators, shows how Dell XPS has been a clear partner when the ideas are taking shape. It’s a deep dive into their youniverse or process of creating before the eureka of a big creation. Reaching the young, creative, aspiring minds who are inspired by a mix of content was important to us. Which is why we always have a strong social leg. Our products are clear enablers in this journey and celebrate their process.”
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.
