Gaming
Gamerji hits a six with Sportsdraft, adds IPL auction fun to esports play
MUMBAI: Ever dreamed of owning an IPL team, only to realise your wallet’s emptier than a stadium during a rain delay? Good news—Gamerji just bowled an irresistible googly your way. Forget bidding goodbye to your savings; now, you can outbid your mates for Kohli or Rohit—all without spending real cash!
Ahmedabad-based esports juggernaut Gamerji has announced the launch of Sportsdraft, its first in-house, non-fantasy, non-RMG cricket gameplay. Set to officially go live next week, Sportsdraft mimics IPL-style player auctions, letting users virtually bid on their favourite players to build winning squads. With 16.7 million users in India and the middle east, Gamerji clearly knows how to spin a good game—and this might just be their best delivery yet.
Sportsdraft introduces cricket lovers to a fresh style of digital gaming. Participants join leagues through Gamerji’s app or website, strategically bid on players with virtual currency, and assemble dream teams to compete for glory (and Gamerji diamonds). Miss the timer by a whisker? Say goodbye to your star batsman, swiftly auctioned to your cleverer competitor.
Gamerji founder & CEO Soham Thacker shared his excitement, saying, “With India’s unbeatable run in the ongoing Champions Trophy and world’s biggest league IPL starting in just a few weeks, the cricket fever is on. Our users and telecom customers’ feedback encouraged us to develop Sportsdraft. It is a non RMG gameplay designed to engage players in building their squads using points earned on the Gamerji platform. The official game launch is scheduled for next week but traction from the beta launch has already shown 35 per cent of Gamerji users playing Sportsdraft, we expect this to double as we reach IPL season commencement.”
He further clarified, “The gameplay itself is not the conventional fantasy model. It is a season-long experience that involves drafting players and getting the thrill of owning a team rather than just selecting players randomly, putting your squad in, and staking. This is about actually experiencing the excitement of team ownership because you get exclusive rights to those players. No one else has those players when you play in your league.”
Participants can also pick their ‘Power Player’ to double points and challenge friends in thrilling daily head-to-head battles. Victors earn Gamerji diamonds, redeemable for gift vouchers—because who doesn’t like winning free stuff?
Founded by serial entrepreneur Soham Thacker in 2019, Gamerji already hosts 1,400 tournaments daily, aiming to boost its user base from 16.7 million to 30 million within the next year. Considering India’s esports market hit $200.7 million in 2024, projected to soar to $919 million by 2033 with an impressive CAGR of 18.42 per cent, Gamerji is playing the long innings smartly.
Is virtual cricket auction the future? Perhaps. For now, Gamerji’s Sportsdraft sounds like the perfect game to bring friends together—and then tear friendships apart over outbidding each other for Dhoni.
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.
