Online gaming conglomerate Nazara Technologies has earmarked an investment worth ₹830 crore or $100 million towards merger and acquisition for the next 24 months as part of its global expansion plan, the company says in a regulatory filing on March 13.
"The $100 million pledge will further boost this opportunity for us in that direction. We are particularly focused on investing in and acquiring gaming studios globally with a specific focus on India’s 500 million gamers as well as the large North American market," says Nitish Mittersain, Jt MD & CEO, Nazara Technologies.
Over the past few years, Rekha Jhunjhunwala-backed gaming company has been on an acquisition spree under its 'acquire and scale' strategy. In January this year, the online gaming company received the board’s approval for a 10.77% stake in Kofluence Tech, a social media influencer-led marketing-tech platform.
In 2018, the company acquired a 55% stake in Gurugarm-based NODWIN Gaming Pvt Ltd, a gaming solutions company and creator of e-sports events. In 2019, the company acquired a 67% stake in sports news website Sportskeeda for $44 crore. In 2020, the online gaming firm acquired a 51% stake in Kiddopia for ₹175 crore, which caters to young children aged 2-7 years.
"Nazara has seen significant success in its ‘acquire and scale’ strategy over the last few years as can be seen by the post-acquisition growth in Kiddopia, Nodwin Gaming and Sportskeeda among others. Our unique decentralised model allows these businesses to operate autonomously by strong management and provides us with significant bandwidth to scale the platform we have created," says Mittersain.
Notably, the development comes after the online gaming company, in January this year, raised ₹760 crore through preferential allotment. Of this, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s two companies—Kamath Associates and NK Squared made a combined investment of ₹250 crore for 3.93% stake in the company. Plustus Wealth invested ₹50 crore increasing its stake from 6.14% to 6.63% in the company. Meanwhile, ICICI Prudential has infused ₹65 crore in the company.
In September last year, the company raised ₹100 crore from Kamath Associates and NK Squared.
In the October to December quarter of FY24, the online gaming company reported a 45% increase in its net profit at ₹29 crore, as against ₹20 crore in the same period last year. The company’s revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at ₹320.4 crore, witnessing a growth of 1.8% as against ₹314.8 crore in the same period last year.
The company's share price closed 5.20% lower at ₹632.80. This was in line with the broader BSE Sensex, which closed 906.07 points or 1.23% lower at 72,761.89.
