Nazara Technologies plans to invest $20 mn in Indian startups next year

Nazara Technologies, an interactive gaming and sports media company, on Thursday said it is planning to invest up to $20 million next year in startups in India, Middle East and Africa.

The company has already undertaken transactions worth $50 million in 13 startups in the last two years, a statement said.

"Nazara aims to act as a catalyst to further expedite growth of gaming; e-sports and sports content across emerging markets," it added.

The company said it plans to infuse "risk and growth capital in the selected startups besides offering mentorship via the founders of the companies from Nazara's current portfolio of investments and Nazara's leadership team".

Apart from fund infusion and mentorship, the startup teams will be able to tap into the vast geographical reach of Nazara's business operations spanning across Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and the Indian sub-continent, it added.

"They will have access to local payment options with ready-made legal infrastructure to expand into the above geographies apart from reaching out to Nazara's network of over 100 million-plus monthly active users in India," the statement said.

The startups will also get an opportunity to leverage network of experts across financial and legal strategy, brand and performance marketing; media ad sales; brand solutions in addition to running games as services.

"Looking at the explosive growth in the interactive entertainment and sports ecosystem, Nazara has decided to up its aggression on investing in the emerging market ecosystem and support early stage startups accelerating the growth of these companies and of the industry at large," Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal said.

Nazara has acquired majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia, Nodwin Gaming and HalaPlay Technologies. Its other investee companies include Mastermind Sports, Moonglabs Technologies, Bakbuck, CrimzonCode and others.