Baazi Games to Invest $5 million in Innovative Gaming Startups

Baazi Games Group is set to invest $5 million in the Indian gaming industry. The company is seeking to invest in innovative startups that will develop the latest technology for the gaming industry in the country.

As per Statista.com, the Indian gaming industry has a market value of around Rs. 62 billion (Rs. 6200 crore) in 2019. The value is expected to grow to Rs. 250 billion (Rs. 25k crore) by the year 2024. Even employment is rising in the industry with over 40 thousand employees expected to be employed in gaming by 2022.

Baazi Games will make the said investment in the next six months. The company has been growing in the market for the last five years, since the launch of their poker website PokerBaazi.com.

They have a user base of about 3 million. Baazi Games Group also entered Online Fantasy and Rummy gaming markets with BalleBaazi and RummyBaazi, respectively.

BalleBaazi was launched in 2018 and is operated by SBN Gaming Network Pvt. Ltd. Baazi Games has a majority stake in this fantasy sports venture. In 2019, BalleBaazi also raised a Series A funding of $4 million from two private equity funds.

With the fast-paced growth of the market, the gaming companies in the industry are attracting a number of investors. Earlier this year, Dream11, a fantasy sports platform, attracted investment of $60 million from Steadview Capital to become the first gaming ‘Unicorn’ with a valuation of around $1-1.5 billion.

Nazara Technologies Limited has also announced that it intends to invest around $20 million in gaming and sports industries in India, Africa and Middle-East in the year 2020. It also recently acquired a majority stake in Qunami by investing Rs. 7.5 crores and invested in Sportskeeda and Halaplay. Gaming and fantasy platform MPL also recently raised $35.5 million in Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, Times Internet and GoVentures and other investors.