Gaming
Global Esports onboards NUMBER as the title sponsor for BGMS 2023
Mumbai: One of the largest esports organisations in India, Global Esports announced a partnership with NUMBER, a premium smart wearable and gaming earbuds brand, as the Title Sponsor for their BGMI roster ahead of BGMS Season 2. Global Esports are the defending champions from season one having defeated big teams, such as GodLike, Orangutan, and SouL to lift the grand trophy.
NUMBER is known for making specially designed gaming earbuds to support a true gaming experience and very recently launched its Super Bud Pro Series to mark the return of competitive mobile gaming in India. As part of this exclusive collaboration, the NUMBER logo will proudly feature on the centre of the Global Esports team jerseys for the duration of BGMS 2023. The month-long sponsorship aims to showcase the strong correlation between Esports and technology, reflecting the mutual passion for pushing boundaries and setting new standards in their respective fields.
Global Esports co-founder Rushindra Sinha said, “We are thrilled to onboard NUMBER as our title sponsor for BGMS 2023. Their commitment towards delivering well-designed high-quality products at an affordable price aligns with our vision to deliver at the highest stages and take the Indian gaming industry to the next level.”
NUMBER CEO & founder Jigar Mehta said “At NUMBER, our objective is to provide gamers with the best-in-class gaming audio accessories so that they may start their journey in esports with the right equipment. Esports is a strongly growing community in India and we strive to support this growth with our new and first-of-its-kind partnership with Global Esports. We are thrilled to partner with a leading organisation such as Global Esports who are also the winners of BGMS 2022. With this partnership, we mark our journey into the esports world and are here to stay, play & win the journey.”
BGMS 2023 is set to kick off on 4 August 2023, with 24 Indian teams participating. It will be broadcast live on Star Sports Network and Rooter at 9.30 PM IST. This will be the second season hosted by Nodwin Gaming and Star Sports and features a prize pool of Rs 2,10,00,000 (over $250,000). The contest will span over 22 days and will be a LAN event broadcasted in Hindi, Tamil, and English.
Being one of the 14 invited teams to take part in the tournament, GE aims to use this opportunity to showcase the talent of their newly built BGMI squad that will be led by Mayavi, the coach and analyst for their lineup. Last month, Global Esports unveiled its complete BGMI roster, which included their most recent signing BGMI start player MAVI as IGL for their new squad.
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.
