Gaming
Revenant Esports, headlined by NBK, to travel to India for $200,000 Skyesports Championship 2024
Mumbai: Skyesports, a global IP builder for gaming and esports, is thrilled to announce that Revenant Esports’ newly-signed Counter-Strike 2 esports roster from Europe, will be travelling to India for the Skyesports Championship 2024, scheduled to happen from July 23 to 28.
Revenant Esports’ Counter-Strike 2 esports roster is headlined by Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, a two-time Major winner, and one of the most notable names in the scene. Accompanying the prodigy are Kamil “reiko” Cegielko, Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom, Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea, and Adelin “adeX” Nica.
The European team has received a direct invite to the Skyesports Championship 2024. They will be travelling to India to be one of eight teams competing in the tournament, which features the likes of Aurora Gaming, BetBoom Team, Eternal Fire, Furia, and The MongolZ.
Commenting on the latest invited team to the Skyesports Championship, Skyesports Founder and CEO, Shiva Nandy said, “We are thrilled to welcome the talented roster of Revenant Esports to the Skyesports Championship. It fills us with immense pleasure to see local esports organizations realizing the potential of Counter-Strike 2 esports, fueled by our $1 million 2024 roadmap and numerous on-ground events, and picking up international rosters. Bringing the best esports athletes in the world to compete in India has been a dream for us. We look forward to hosting the Skyesports Championship LAN this July.”
Skyesports will also be hosting separate qualifiers in Europe and India to determine the last two teams in the Skyesports Championship.
The Skyesports Championship LAN in India with some of the world’s best esports players will undoubtedly be a major boost to the local Counter-Strike 2 esports community. India’s gaming market has rapidly grown to USD 3.1 billion in FY 2023, per a report by Statista. At a CAGR of 20 per cent, the gaming industry is among the fastest-growing segments in India’s media and entertainment industry and will be worth over USD 7.5 billion by FY 2028.
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.
