Nazara Technologies Becomes Majority Stakeholder In Halaplay Nazara Technologies has bought a stake worth Rs 14.6 crore from Kae Capital to become majority stakeholder in the fantasy gaming platform.
By Debarghya Sil •
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Global gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies Ltd on Friday announced that it has acquired Kae Capital's stake worth INR 14.6 crore to become a majority stakeholder in fantasy gaming platform Halaplay Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
The deal comes at a time when fantasy game apps have suffered a massive blow due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Fantasy game platforms depend on real sporting action, which have been stopped worldwide due to the pandemic.
Nazara Technologies has invested in Halaplay over the years in two tranches; the first round of investment was carried out with Kae Capital in November 2017 and the second round with Delta Corp Ltd in March 2019.
Started by four batchmates from BITS Pilani - Goa, Halaplay is a real money based daily fantasy sports platform. Since its launch in 2017, the gaming platform has seen exponential growth in the user base and total transactions. It currently covers worldwide cricket, football and kabaddi leagues and has plans to venture into other sports.
"The company has now gone ahead and bought Kae Capital's stocks in Halaplay making it the majority investors in the fantasy sports vertical," a statement by Nazara read.
Founded by Nitish Mittersain in 2000, Nazara is backed by marquee investors which include West Bridge Capital, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Turtle Entertainment GmbH.
Nazara is also an investor in the gaming and sports ecosystem in India and has consummated transactions worth $50 million in the past three years. The company has acquired a majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd, Nodwin Gaming Pvt. Ltd and HalaPlay Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Currently, Nazara has a network of over 100 million players in India. The company has taken licensed mobile gaming rights to popular Indian IP characters such as Chhota Bheem, Motu Patlu, Mighty Raju, and others.
In the past, Nazara has invested in startups such as Nodwin Gaming, Next Wave Multimedia, Sportskeeda, Paper Boat apps, Mastermind Sports, Moonglabs Technologies, Bakbuck, CrimzonCode, InstaSportz, NZWorld among others.
