Mobile Premier League (MPL), a Bengaluru-based mobile eSports platform, announced it has raised $90 million in its latest financing round led by SIG Global and RTP Global, according to ETtech report. Post funding, the company’s market valuation stood at $450 million.
The company also executed a buyback of employee stock ownership plans (Esops) worth $3.2 million as part of the fundraising.
Other investors such as MDI Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, along with existing investors Sequoia India, Go-Ventures and Base Partners also participated in the round.
The Company will use the capital to fuel expansion with plans to markets including South Korea, Japan and the North American region, as well as strengthen product development with a focus on social functions such as live streaming, and audio and video content features.
“Our goal, with respect to this fundraise, is to set us up to go to multiple international markets…and, separately, as a part of this raise we are doing a significant Esop buyback,” Sai Srinivas, cofounder and CEO of MPL.
“This valuation is more of a validation of the business. We look at long-term success as listing our company on the Nasdaq or equivalent exchange,” he said.
Founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra, MPL is a gaming platform that offers more than 70 real money games, including fantasy sports, rummy, poker, chess, 3D pool, ludo, and carrom. It competes with Dream11, WinZo and Mega, among others.
“We do not depend on any one business vertical… a user on average plays around 6.5 different games every month on MPL, while our user acquisition costs have been 30-40% lower compared to the industry average,” Srinivas said.
Going forward, the company said it will focus on building large-scale tournaments and luring the best gaming developers to its platform.
“Even in an environment as challenging as the current one, we are impressed with the success and accessibility of the platform concept – giving users a unique variety of experiences and social interaction,” said Galina Chifina, managing partner at RTP Global.
Recently, Dream11 raised $225 million from Tiger Global Management, TPG Tech Adjacencies (TTAD), ChrysCapital and Footpath Ventures at a primary valuation of $2.2 billion.
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