Gaming
Pokémon Unite WCS India Qualifier 2025 kicks off with a $37.5K prize bait
MUMBAI: This April, India’s Pokémon pros have one mission: catch that ticket to Anaheim. The Pokémon Company and Skyesports have officially unleashed the Pokémon Unite World Championship Series (WCS) 2025 India Qualifier—with a juicy prize pool of $37,500 up for grabs and a chance to fight for glory on the world stage.
The winner of the India Qualifier will represent the nation at the Pokémon Unite World Championship 2025 in Anaheim, USA. There, teams from around the world will battle for their share of a $500,000 prize pool and the coveted global title.
Registrations close on 4 April, so if you’ve got the reflexes of Pikachu and the brains of an Alakazam, you’d better move fast. The qualifiers begin 5 April in a single-elimination format, with the top eight teams advancing to Playoffs on 6 April. The Playoffs will follow a double-elimination bracket, and every match will run best-of-three (BO3), ensuring enough drama to keep trainers on the edge of their Poké Balls.
Skyesports will livestream the entire playoff action on its official Youtube channel, giving fans a front-row seat to the adrenaline-pumped spectacle.
“After the immense success of the ACL India League 2025, which garnered more than 1.3 million views, we are proud to bring the Pokémon Unite WCS 2025 India Qualifier to our players. This tournament reaffirms our commitment to nurturing grassroots esports talent and providing a clear path to international glory. I wish the best of luck to all the participants,” said Skyesports founder & CEO Shiva Nandy.
With Pokémon Unite now announced as a medal event at the Asian Games 2026, India’s esports scene is levelling up—fast. WCS 2025 becomes the second major international route for Indian players after the ACL, which already sent Revenant XSpark and GodLike Esports to Japan earlier this year.
This April, only one team will evolve into India’s Pokémon Unite elite. Will yours be the one?
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.
