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Business News/ Companies / Start-ups/  MPL moves closer to becoming gaming unicorn with $95 million funding
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MPL moves closer to becoming gaming unicorn with $95 million funding

MPL plans to use the new funds to expand its overseas business in 2021 and also to grow its eSports portfolio by organising more tournaments at national and international level.

MPL has now raised a total amount of $225.5 million since 2018, the year it was founded.Premium
MPL has now raised a total amount of $225.5 million since 2018, the year it was founded.

Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League (MPL) has raised $95 million in a Series D round led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures, taking the mobile eSports company's valuation to $945 million.

The investment takes MPL closer to becoming the second major unicorn in Indian gaming industry. Mumbai based fantasy gaming platform Dream 11 with estimated valuation of $1-$1.5 billion was the first startup in the gaming industry to acquire the coveted unicorn status.

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MPL plans to use the new funds to expand its overseas business in 2021 and also to grow its eSports portfolio by organising more tournaments at national and international level.

“The esports community in India is thriving, and we believe this is the perfect time to take Indian-made games to the world as well as help Indian gamers get recognized for their talent," Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder, and CEO, MPL said in a statement.

Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Founders Circle and Play Ventures were the other investors who participated in this round.

With this investment, MPL has now raised a total amount of $225.5 million since 2018, the year it was founded. In September 2020, MPL had raised $90 million in series C funding from SIG, RTP Global, and MDI Ventures.

"As we double down on our investment in MPL, we are eager to see it increasing its international footprint and becoming a global leader in the mobile gaming and eSports industries, Eduardo Latache, Partner, Base Partners said in a statement.

MPL offers over 50 games on its mobile gaming platform and has over 60 million users in India and over 3.5 million overseas users in Indonesia. Like most other online gaming platforms, MPL also saw a big jump in traffic and time spent on games in 2020 due to covid-19 led growth in time spent on entertainment particularly gaming.

In November 2020, the company also organised a College Premier League (CPL) for colleges to fill the vacuum created by suspension of intra and inter college sports due to covid-19. According to MPL, 13,000 gamers and more than 100 colleges in India participated for 1 crore in prizes and scholarships.

The company recently raised $500,000 (approx 3.6 crore) from its existing employees as part of the Employee Investment Plan (EIV) that was announced in December 2020.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhijit Ahaskar
Abhijit writes on tech policy, gaming, security, AI, robotics, electronics and startups. He has been in the media industry for over 12 years.
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Published: 04 Feb 2021, 01:21 PM IST
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