Mobile Premier League (MPL) said on Wednesday that it has raised Series E funding at a pre-money valuation of $2.3 billion (Rs 16,935 crore), catapulting the fantasy gaming platform to the unicorn club of startups that boast a valuation of at least $1 billion.
The funding was led by Dubai-headquartered private investment firm Legatum Capital, said MPL in a statement without disclosing the amount it raised.
Existing investors participated in the round including Sequoia, SIG, RTP Global, Go-Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Play Ventures, Base Partners, Telstra Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital, it added.
MPL will use the fresh capital for global and domestic expansion and to strengthen its technology.
With this fundraise, MPL becomes the 26th unicorn India has produced this year alone compared to 11 last year. It is also the second gaming startup to turn unicorn after Dream Sports, the Mumbai-based company that owns fantasy gaming platform Dream11.
In April 2019, Dream Sports became the first homegrown gaming company to break into the unicorn club when Hong Kong-headquartered hedge fund Steadview Capital picked up a stake.
Bengaluru-based MPL was founded by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra in 2018. The esports and skill gaming platform has over 85 million users across India, Indonesia and the US.
The Series E funding comes just months after MPL raised $95 million in a Series D round of fundraising led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures in February.
With that funding, MPL was valued at $945 million.
In April, MPL acquired Delhi-based GamingMonk and launched Esports Arena.
The fantasy sports platform has not only attracted huge investments but has also delivered bumper returns to early investors.
In a LinkedIn post in April, Vani Kola, founder of venture capital firm Kalaari Capital, said that its bet on Dream11 has already helped return $206 million to Limited Partners (LPs) with manifold upside for shares still locked into the company.
The exit was facilitated after Dream Sports scored a $400 million secondary investment from a slew of investors. The deal also marked the first-ever India investment for Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm TCV.
