Nazara Technologies Limited, an India based, diversified gaming and sports media company and its wholly owned subsidiary Nazara Technologies FZ LLC announced investment in Griffin Gaming Partners (Griffin) Fund II, L.P as a Limited Partner in the Fund. Nazara Dubai is a Limited partner in Griffin Gaming Partners Fund II, L.P for a capital commitment not exceeding USD 4 Million (INR 30 Crores), payable in cash, in one or more tranches. Nazara Dubai will invest up to USD 1.34 Million (INR 10 Crores) upfront while the rest of USD 2.66 Million (INR 20 Crores) will be deployed over a period of 3 years.
Griffin Gaming Partners Fund II was founded by Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson, and Nick Tuosto, with LionTree as a strategic partner to the Fund. The firm prefers to invest in gaming platforms and infrastructure, gaming content, and game studios. Griffin Gaming Partners Fund II is a leading venture capital firm singularly focused on investing in the global gaming market. The company has decades of investment, advisory and operational experience in the space.
Nazara, with this proposed investment, aims to become part of global network of Limited Partners (“LP”) of Griffin as well as its investee companies. Access to this network should foster strategic partnership with Nazara’s subsidiaries including but not limited to emerging market partnerships, investments etc. Management believes that the company aims to leverage the Griffin network for the following strategic initiatives:
- Potential partnerships and/ or potential investment into Nazara and its subsidiaries.
- Securing deal flow for future M&A from the current portfolio of the funds as well as inflow of deals coming to funds.
- Co-investment opportunities into highly sought-after founders/ companies.
Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal, “Griffin Gaming Partners led by Peter, Phil and Nick has established itself the go to gaming fund for entrepreneurs across the world looking to raise smart money. The value addition which the Griffin team brings to the founding team is priceless and hence this partnership with Griffin will act as catalyst to accelerate growth of Nazara’s footprint in local Indian and global gaming ecosystem.”
“Gaming is truly global and is projected to reach a staggering $256 billion of annual consumer spend in 2025. Having key strategic partnerships such as Nazara in the rapidly scaling geography of the Indian subcontinent is a significant benefit for Griffin. What Manish and the team at Nazara have built is highly differentiated and their culture is a spot-on fit with our strategy,” said Peter Levin, Managing Director, Griffin Gaming Partners”. He added.
In addition to the investment in Griffin Gaming Partners Fund II Nazara has acquired multiple companies over the past few years. Nazara has placed itself in a leading position in esports, interactive gaming and gamified early learning space with the ‘Friends of Nazara’ network. Nazara has acquired a majority stake in Nodwin Gaming Pvt. Ltd; Next Wave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., which operates World Cricket Championship (WCC), the largest mobile-based cricket simulation game, in addition to investment in Absolute Sports Private Limited, which operates Sportskeeda and Paper Boat Apps Private Limited – gamified early learning subscription app and OpenPlay – Skill Gaming.