Indonesia’s Go-Venture bets $30 million on Esports Co

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Go-Ventures, the investment arm of Go-Jek, one of Indonesia’s most valuable tech startups, is finalising a $30-million financing round in a domestic mobile gaming company, Mobile Premier League (MPL), two people aware of the deal told ET.

For MPL, this will be its second fundraise in a gap of a few months and is likely to see its valuation increase ten times from the previous round, sources privy to the transaction said. If the deal goes through, it will be Go-Jek’s maiden financial investment in India after having acquired three local companies to boost its technology and engineering talent.

A source familiar with the development said MPL, which had raised $5 million in October as part of its Series-A round at a $12-13 million valuation, has picked up the new capital valuing it at $150 million post the latest round. The company’s earlier fundraise was led by Sequoia Capital, which is also an early backer of Go-Jek.

“Go-Jek is moving beyond transportation and wants to be like a super app in Indonesia and neighbouring countries. They could look to take MPL international as they expand to Southeast Asian markets,” said a person in the know.

Go-Jek, valued at $5 billion, is reportedly making a move into the Singapore market, which has been dominated by the SoftBank-backed on-demand transportation app Grab. The Indonesian transport startup previously acquired three Indian businesses primarily for its technology including Pianta, a home healthcare provider marketplace, CodeIgnition, an infrastructure automation and technology solution provider, and LeftShift, a mobile App Development company. Go-Jek’s founder Nadiem Makarim and MPL’s founder Sai Srinivas Kiran did not respond to ET’s emailed queries till press time.

MPL is an eSports platform where users participate in, what the company refers to as, skill-based game tournaments including cricket, puzzles and crosswords, among others, to win real cash. Its Android app has more than 10,00,000 installs. Founded in 2018 by Kiran and Shubham Malhotra, who had earlier sold their startup Creo to messaging app Hike, MPL claims to be the largest real-money mobile gaming platform. Besides Sequoia, its other investors include BeeNext Ventures and Times Internet, part of the Times Group, which also publishes this paper.

For Go-Jek, which has positioned itself as a super app, its bet on MPL is significant, keeping in mind that the online gaming industry in India, which currently stands at $290 million in size, is expected to grow to $1 billion by 2021, according to a report by Google-KPMG. This growth is primarily driven by proliferation of low-cost smartphones among urban and rural population, increase in the domestic game developer base, and focus on local content with themes, even as the industry sees improved paying propensity by 2021.

In India, most gaming developers depend on advertisers and publishers for monetisation, with ‘in-app advertisement’ being the primary source of revenue. However, as the market grows, the sector is expected to move towards a model of freemium upgrades and in-app purchase.