iWorld
HT Labs inks bold MoU with The Doers Company
MUMBAI: HT Labs, the innovation and product arm of HT Media, is going global. In a high-powered move blending startups, strategy, and smart cities, the company has signed a strategic MoU with The Doers Company, Europe’s leading innovation platform behind flagship events like Reflect Festival and the upcoming Doers Summit.
The deal, signed at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) under the patronage of the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), sets the stage for a three-nation innovation corridor spanning India, Cyprus, and the UAE—with OTTplay, India’s first AI-powered OTT aggregator, at its core.
What’s on the menu? Access to European innovation networks, cross-border pilots, founder-investor matchmaking, and a high-impact launchpad via Cyprus into Europe and Dubai for media-tech experiments in smart city infrastructure.
The timing is razor-sharp. It follows a wave of diplomatic activity, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Cyprus and a tech-heavy Cypriot delegation’s Dubai mission—featuring chief scientist of Cyprus, Demetris Skourides, who has become a key catalyst in this three-way partnership.
Commenting on the partnership, Skourides remarked,
“I would like to thank Mr. Avinash for his trust in our ecosystem and look forward to further profiling how Cyprus and other investors can benefit from bidirectional value creation. Such collaborations are the foundational pillars that build the future.”
Dubai Silicon Oasis deputy director general Badr Buhannad said,
“Dubai Silicon Oasis was envisioned as a smart, future-ready hub for innovation, talent, and entrepreneurship. Hosting the Doers Summit in partnership with The Doers Company aligns perfectly with Dubai’s Economic Agenda D33 to position the city among the world’s leading digital and economic centres. The Summit reinforces our mission to attract forward-looking ventures and connect European and Middle Eastern innovators—accelerating cross-border collaboration in support of the UAE’s vision for digital economy growth and global competitiveness.”
HT Labs co-founder & CEO Avinash Mudaliar added, “At HT Labs, this isn’t just an expansion—it’s a strategic leap into the future. Dubai Silicon Oasis offers the ideal launchpad to take India’s most disruptive, AI-driven innovations to the world. At the core of our work is TaaS—Technology-as-a-Service—delivering scalable, AI-powered solutions across video, apps, web, and content systems that boost engagement, unlock new revenue, and enable global growth.With our strong focus on intelligent, tech-first solutions, we see immense potential to co-create platforms that resonate globally.
What truly elevates this journey is the camaraderie we’ve built—especially with visionaries like Demetris Skourides, chief scientist of Cyprus. His insights and spirit of collaboration have made him not just a strategic ally, but a trusted friend in our cross-border mission.
With OTTplay leading our media-tech push, we’re excited to align with DSO’s smart city vision and deliver transformative experiences in entertainment and data intelligence. This marks a defining chapter in building globally relevant platforms from India.”
Also speaking on the occasion, The Doers Company & managing partner, zero one hundred, Dusan Duffek said, “With a young, tech-savvy population and a booming innovation ecosystem, Indian startups such as OTTplay etc. offer some of the most exciting investment opportunities globally. Similarly, startups from Europe and the Middle East are now building some of the most consequential technologies, which will have an impact not only regionally, but globally. We believe now is the time to build bridges, not borders, and connect this energy with global capital and strategic partners”.
The Doers Company co-founder & CEO Stylianos Lambrou added, “We see a significant opportunity in India. With our growing presence in Greece, Cyprus, and now Dubai, we’re uniquely positioned to bridge the gap, providing Indian startups & companies with access to Europe, and offering European startups and companies a pathway into India. The strong relationship between my country and India gives us a powerful advantage, enabling us to amplify our impact across both regions.”
With Cyprus positioning itself as a European gateway for Indian tech and Dubai doubling down on its digital infrastructure bets, the deal is more than just a handshake—it’s a multi-regional runway for talent, capital, and innovation to flow freely.
Call it a soft-power play or a smart power shift—either way, HT Labs is now officially in the global game.
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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.
