 "Sean (Hyunil) Sohn, chief executive officer (CEO), Krafton India")
South Korean gaming major Krafton, the developer and publisher of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), recently led an investment in fintech firm Cashfree. Sean (Hyunil) Sohn, chief executive officer (CEO), Krafton India, speaks to Ajinkya Kawale and Shivani Shinde in Mumbai on the company’s rationale behind investing in Cashfree, monetisation challenges in the Indian gaming segment and focus areas for 2025. Edited excerpts:
What made Krafton invest in Cashfree Payments?
Cashfree falls outside the sectors we have traditionally invested in over the past three-four years. However, our perspective on India’s digital ecosystem has naturally evolved. While our core business is game publishing, we have also invested in local digital content platforms such as Kuku FM, Frnd, and Pratilipi. In the digital economy, content distribution and delivery play a crucial role. India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has addressed many challenges, but payments can still be complex. A company like Cashfree should be able to provide seamless services to merchants. We also want to see if we can come up with some collaboration with Cashfree directly. We don’t have anything else to share specifically about this.
Will there be a plan to take the company across your ecosystem?
We would love to. It is more about future deliberation and execution. We will need to have a conversation with Cashfree on the strategic direction they want to take on this front. That is one of the big possibilities that we have in our mind.
Do we see some more investments from Krafton in the Indian fintech ecosystem, maybe a B2C player as well?
We are open to additional investment opportunities in this sector. Cashfree works with multiple merchants and aligns with the broader fintech ecosystem. However, there aren’t many similar platforms available for investment, as some may be too large for us to invest meaningfully. Our investments should have a strategic connection to our existing businesses — we are not purely financial investors but rather strategic ones. If a new fintech emerges that directly interfaces with consumers to enhance services, then why not invest?
Does Krafton have a dedicated fund? Does the firm look at this kind of investment across the globe, wherever you have presence?
Not really, but we have an estimated size of investment we want to allocate in India. We are investing from our balance sheet. It is an investment directly from Krafton. We invested in a couple of venture capital (VC) funds investing in India. One is Lumikai Gaming Fund and the other is 3one4 (capital), which is investing extensively in consumer internet, including gaming and other digital content areas. We invested in one fund called IMM India Fund. IMM is a Korean VC/PE firm. It's their maiden India-focused fund and we are the anchor LP for the fund, which started investment just a few months back. We have invested in three India-focused funds as an LP. Around 80-90 per cent of our investment roughly goes to game development globally. India is a bit of an exception, given the fact that digital entertainment or content platforms are relatively new compared to other developed markets like S Korea or the US which is why we are investing in more diverse sectors. Gaming is at the core, but also esports, content platform, digital entertainment, fintechs, deep tech, and AI. We effectively invested around $160 or $170 million and we announced that we will invest another $150 million in the next 2-3 years. This will include Cashfree investment too.
BGMI has touched 200 million users in India. How have other titles fared in India?
It is difficult to monetise gaming in India, especially when compared to other global peers. Indians are very value-conscious. BGMI is relatively successful since we have been here for a long time with a stable user base. We have a 200 million user base for BGMI now. Launching new games successfully in addition to BGMI is our top priority for 2025. BGMI is doing well, and popular. Launching new games that are 10-20 per cent of that success is a priority for us. We also want to set up a good quality development team in the country. India is one of the top five markets for us. India is an exciting market since the growth rate is three-five times other countries.
Recently, the Tamil Nadu government presented gaming norms. Your comments...
We are trying to understand the regulation through our consumer affairs team. Most of it is mainly targeted at real-money gaming (RMG) firms who have a cash-in and cash-out transaction facility. Gaming apps like BGMI and all the games we have published so far don't have cash-out components. This, I believe, is less risky or less targeted by regulations. We already have voluntary measures in place such as play limits and payment restriction amounts, among others. If there is any regulation coming from state or central guidelines, we must follow it.
