Digital gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL) has raised $90 million (about Rs 661 crore) in its Series C round of funding led by Susquehanna International Group, a global trading firm based near Philadelphia, and existing investor RTP Global.
Indonesia-based venture capital firm MDI Ventures and Silicon Valley-based VC firm Pegasus Tech Ventures came on board as investors during this round.
Existing investors Sequoia India, Go-Ventures, and Base Partners also participated. The investment brings MPL’s total funding to $130.5 million.
The company will utilise the capital to expand its product offering and hire more professionals. The funding will also be used towards product development, with a focus on social functions such as live streaming, and audio and video content features.
"The online gaming industry is seeing huge and increasing engagement, with this fresh capital injection being proof of MPL’s potential to lead and transform this space," said Sai Srinivas, CEO of MPL.
The company had raised $35.5 million in its Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital
Operated by Galactus Funware Technology Pvt Ltd, MPL runs a gaming platform where users compete in skill-based mobile games to win money.
MPL allows users to choose a game of their choice such as sudoku, crosswords or Brick Breaker and then pick a tournament which suits their wallet. Each tournament runs for a certain duration and has a specific number of users who can play it.
Once the results are announced for a tournament, winners can cash out immediately with Paytm, Unified Payments Interface or bank transfer, according to the company’s website.
"Even in an environment as challenging as the current one, we are impressed with the success and accessibility of the platform concept -- giving users a unique variety of experiences and social interaction," said Galina Chifina, managing partner at RTP Global.
In the past 6 months, MPL claims to have grown over 4x and is currently the largest gaming platform in the country, having onboarded marquee titles such as World Cricket Championship. It is said to have added over 70 games on its platform, working with over 28 game developers and studios.
Early this month, sports-technology firm Dream11 raised $225 million from a bunch of investment firms including US-based Tiger Global Management and TPG, as online gaming ventures in India continue to attract marquee investors.
Apart from MPL and Dream11, several online gaming companies in India have raised funding over the past few months as the number of gamers rose in the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Tictok Skill Games Pvt Ltd, which operates vernacular real-money gaming platform WinZO, raised $18 million (Rs 132 crore) in a Series B fundraising round.
Last month, Gamezop raised $4.3 million and RummyBaazi.com pulled in seed funding. Also in August, New Delhi-based Lumikai said it had floated and hit the first close of an early-stage fund to back local gaming and interactive media companies.
In July, mobile game development studio Firescore Interactive Pvt. Ltd raised $500,000 in a funding round led by multinational studio and publisher CrazyLabs.
In the same month, digital content, gaming and technology platform JetSynthesys Pvt Ltd raised around $40 million from investors including family offices of Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.