The Mobile Premier League (MPL), which is a Bangalore-based mobile gaming & esports platform, has managed to raise $90 million (around Rs 660 crore) in Series C round. The two-year-old platform is looking to expand its business outside of India.
Tokyo-based SIG, early-stage tech investor RTP Global, and MID Ventures led this round alongside Pegasus Tech Ventures as well as existing investors Base Partners, Go-Ventures, and Sequoia India.
Sai Srinivas, Co-founder, and CEO of Mobile Premier League said in a release: “In a short time, MPL has taken the gaming market by storm with our various offerings and partnerships, which have helped us stand out in the industry. This latest round of funding will enable us to entertain and connect an even larger audience across India and beyond.
“Being able to bring quality technology, competitive spirit, and enjoyment to people in such an accessible way is what keeps us excited. 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.”
MPL is a gaming platform, offering over 70 real money games, including fantasy sports, chess, poker, rummy, 3D pool, ludo, and carrom. Around 15 to 25% of its business comes from fantasy sports, depending on the offline seasonality of sports events. It is competing with WinZo, Dream11, and Mega, among others.
MPL revealed in a release that since March, its user base has increased by four times, reaching over 6 million players. Not just that, over 2 billion cash transactions have been recorded on the app to date. Receiving such a huge investment, Indian players will have even more opportunities to compete in more tournaments and get higher prizes.
Up to now, the company has raised $130.5 million in funding, which is equivalent to around Rs 9.9 crore. They have added Virat Kohli, Indian national cricket team captain, as their brand ambassador as well as sponsored two Indian Premier League cricket teams (Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders).
Sadly, since a part of Mobile Premier League business is about fantasy sports, its app is not accepted on Google’s Play Store as the platform doesn’t allow online casinos or other types of betting. To recall, the Indian financial services platform Paytm has been removed from Google Play Store for 8 hours.
As mentioned, the company plans to bring its business outside of India in the near future, though the name of the markets they are planning to expand to is yet to be revealed. MPL CEO Srinivas only suggested that South Korea, Japan, and India’s neighboring countries will likely be part of it.
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