MPL, a New Addition to the Unicorn Club with a Valuation of $2.3 Billion
The Bengaluru based online gaming platform, MPL entered the Unicorn Club after it was successful in raising around $150 million in its series E round of financing, raising its valuation to $2.3 Billion.
The company was valued at around $945 million with the existing investors including Sequoia, SIG, RTP Global, Go-Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Play Ventures, Base Partners, Telstra Ventures and Founders Circle Capital. The party was joined by the latest investor in play - Legatum Capital who saw an opportunity in the growing company and led MPL into the billion-dollar club.
“MPL’s proven success in India and Indonesia encouraged us to launch in the US, one of the world’s largest gaming markets,” said Sai Srinivas, co-founder and CEO at MPL as reported by the Times of India. “Our US operations are off to a promising start and we’re thus fulfilling our resolve to make our platform the esports and gaming hub of the world.”
The company operations were initiated in 2018 with the Indian market but grew beyond expectations. MPL plans to use the funds to finance global expansion, invest in technology and strengthen its footprint in India, the world’s largest market for game downloads with an estimated 840 million installs in June.
Where on one hand MPL has raised an additional $95 million in a funding round, on the other hand, China is cracking down on Esports with a view to curb video game addiction among its youth and has limited the hours for which the people below 18 years can play video games. This move is likely to have a major impact on the online traffic in the gaming scene with respect to countries like the US, South Korea and India, as it constitutes the fourth largest gaming market globally.
India is currently the largest market for game downloads across the world with 840 million installs in June, according to app intelligence firm Sensor Tower and according to AIGF, the Indian online gaming market grew from $543 million in 2016 to $1 billion in 2020 and is expected to double its rake fees to $2 billion by 2023.
MPL is the second gaming unicorn in the country after rival Dream11 who have secured a $400 million secondary funding round led by TCV, D1 Capital Partners and Falcon Edge in March this year, valuing the company at around $5 billion.
The company claims to offer more than 70 games across several categories and allows its users to compete in various formats. These may be head-to-head combat, tournaments or games that could earn you cash. It claims a huge user base of 85 million across the US, Indonesia and India.
SOURCE: TOI
