iWorld
Facebook-FICCI to promote social sector innovations
NEW DELHI: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Facebook have joined to augment the Millennium Alliance (MA) initiative.
Facebook has joined hands with FICCI as an Outreach and Knowledge partner to support and expand the development of the social enterprise sector in India. Both share the commitment to promote replication and scale of the selected social enterprise innovations across the South Asia and Africa regions in the identified priority areas of sanitation, education, health care, clean energy and agriculture.
Facebook and FICCI together will also engage in organizing regular workshops & webinars for shortlisted applicants to promote the effectiveness of Facebook as a tool for promoting business and social innovations apart from helping them reach out and connect to relevant resources globally.
The Millennium Alliance is an inclusive platform to leverage Indian creativity, expertise, and resources to identify, scale and expand the outreach of innovative solutions being developed and tested in India to address development challenges that will benefit ‘base of the pyramid’ populations across India and the world.
The Millennium Alliance (MA) was launched in July 2012 jointly by the Technology Development Board of the Department of Science and Technology; USAID and FICCI to recognize India’s role as a global innovation laboratory, by identifying, testing and scaling solutions that leverage private and public sector resources and expertise to reduce the cost and increase the reach of development improvements in India and around the world. ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, ICCo Cooperation, UKAID, WISH Foundation & World Bank subsequently came on board as Program Partners. The MA aims to create significant developmental impact at the base of the pyramid population. So far, MA has funded 62 projects, dispersing close to Rs. 55,00,00,000 in its key focus sectors.
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.
