Gaming
KGeN launches India’s first VALORANT virtual training academy ‘LIFT//OFF’
Mumbai: KGeN, a community-led gaming platform, partners with Riot Games to launch LIFT//OFF, India’s first-ever community-led and data-driven online training academy aimed at developing professional VALORANT athletes. LIFT//OFF provides aspiring gamers the opportunity to enhance their skills and showcase their abilities on a global stage.
This innovative program selects top gaming content creators as ‘creators’ and competitive gamers as ‘trainers’ from the VALORANT community to lead the academy. Creators will form teams by selecting players from their communities, with a total of 60-80 participants to be trained by 20 chosen trainers.
The selection process will be based on a player’s in-game VALORANT performance, considering factors such as hours played, win rates, kills, headshot percentage, and KDR. Additionally, social standing, including tournament wins and content creation, will play a role in determining the first set of trainers, creators, and esports recruits for LIFT//OFF.
Through LIFT//OFF, participants will connect with the global esports community. Top-performing teams will gain the opportunity to participate in official VALORANT tournaments. Additionally, creators and trainers will receive official VALORANT merchandise, recognising their pivotal role in shaping the program and advancing India’s esports scene.
LIFT//OFF goes beyond improving in-game skills—it nurtures the next generation of esports stars. The program offers guidance not only in gameplay strategies but also in fostering a strong social persona, ensuring participants become well-rounded esports professionals. By analysing data-driven insights, the academy will tailor tutorials and challenges to address specific areas of improvement for each recruit.
LIFT//OFF Roadmap:
– Launch (18 September) – Applications for creators, trainers, and recruits go live.
– Last Date to Apply (10 October) – Deadline for applications.
– Weekly & Daily Challenges Leaderboard (4 – 26 November) – Players participate in in-game challenges and win rewards.
– Finale (30 November – 3 December) – Final tournament assesses recruits’ learnings and trainers’ effectiveness.
To apply, visit https://youtu.be/5QPYdxKlCeA?si=fKVdKoZbV32Rusjl and choose the role that suits you best. KGeN will guide applicants through the next steps.
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.
