Gaming
Skyesports & 1xBet partner for Skyesports Masters
Mumbai: Skyesports, the leading esports tournament organiser in South Asia, has announced a partnership with 1XBET as a sponsor for the highly anticipated Skyesports Masters. The collaboration brings together a major sponsor in the global Counter-Strike scene into the country which is a testament to the scale of India’s biggest gaming tournament.
The Skyesports Masters is a historic tournament for India as it’s the country’s first-ever franchised esports league. Eight franchised teams will compete across the League Stage and the Playoffs to determine the champions and for the lion’s share of the Rs 2,00,00,000 prize pool.
The eight franchised teams in the Skyesports Masters are as follows:
. Marcos Gaming
. Gods Reign
. Enigma Gaming
. Medal Esports
. Reckoning Esports
. 7Sea Esports
. Revenant Esports
. Velocity Gaming
The tournament is set to kick off with the League Stage from 8 July to 17 Aug. The eight teams will compete in an exhilarating double round-robin format with the top four advancing to the Playoffs. The Skyesports Masters Playoffs is set to happen on 26 and 27 Aug as a benchmark-setting on-ground event in front of a live audience.
Skyesports Masters, with 1xBet as a partner, sets the stage for a groundbreaking tournament that will captivate the esports community and propel India’s gaming industry to new heights. The collaboration also opens up avenues for expanded reach and increased visibility for the Skyesports Masters. Fans can catch all the action live on the Skyesports YouTube channel.
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.
