Gaming
Nazara Technologies, Delta Corp to invest Rs 40 cr in HalaPlay
MUMBAI: Nazara Technologies Ltd and Delta Corp Ltd, which is India based casino gaming company, together will invest Rs 40 crore as part of Series-A funding round in an online daily fantasy sports platform, HalaPlay.
HalaPlay, launched in 2017, has seen an explosive growth in the user base and total transactions since then. It has in the past received investment from Nazara Technologies, Kae Capital, Angel List and other angel investors. The company has seen 10x user growth in the last 12 months and will exponentially grow with over 1 crore active players to play in upcoming cricket season.
Halaplay CEO Swapnil Saurav said, “Getting funding support from two of India’s largest gaming companies instills faith in us as a team taking us a notch higher in the Indian fantasy sports arena. Fantasy sports has been on the rise with the market being estimated to be $1 billion currently and is expected to go up to $5 billion in the next two years and hence this boost could not have come at a better time ensuring and enabling our growth along with.”
Nazara Technologies Ltd CEO Manish Agarwal said, “Nazara invested in HalaPlay in 2017 and we continue to be excited about the growth story of HalaPlay. We are confident that Halaplay with this fresh round of funds will ride the explosive growth of fantasy sports in India.”
Nazara has been actively pursuing opportunities in the interactive sports vertical categories and has invested in mobile gaming companies like Mastermind Sports Limited and Moonglabs Technologies Pvt Ltd apart from HalaPlay Technologies Pvt Ltd. Nazara has also taken a majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia Private Limited and Nodwin Gaming Pvt Ltd in the e sports arena in addition to recent investments in CrimzonCode and NZWorld (NZWorld Kenya Limited) to set up operations of real money gaming in Kenya.
Delta Corp MD Ashish Kapadia said, “Delta believes in the HalaPlay team and their ability to innovate in the daily fantasy sports industry. Their viral growth is proof that they have been able to build a differentiated product that users love. We are excited by their potential, and are confident that this round of funding will help propel them to even greater heights.”
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.
