Indian Unicorns 2022: Mobile Premier League Eyes International Markets

The global mobile games market is estimated to grow at 24% CAGR to reach $420.4 billion by 2026. The growth will continue to be driven by increasing smartphone penetration, particularly in emerging markets. The Indian mobile gaming industry is expected to be one of the fastest-growing markets, and Unicorn Mobile Premier League is cashing in on this growth.

Mobile Premier League’s Offerings

Founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra, Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League (MPL) is a skill-based eSports platform that offers cash prizes for playing online fantasy games. The app features cash contests and tournaments for several games where participants are able to earn money. It also serves as a games publishing platform. Recently, the company launched eSports Arena which allows the launch of eSports tournaments in games including chess, WCC, and pool.  

The global pandemic shut down a lot of face-to-face activities, but it spurred the growth of digital services – including online gaming. MPL has benefitted from the pandemic significantly. The activity on its app grew 4x in the first year of the pandemic.

MPL’s growth has been impressive, especially considering that its app is not available on the Google Play Store. Google Play Store does not allow online casinos and other kinds of betting and fantasy game services. Despite that, MPL has managed to amass a following of 90 million users globally.

Recently, MPL released its advanced software development kit. The kit allows developers to publish games on the Apple app store, in addition to the Google Play Store. Using the kit, game developers will be able to create a highly engaging and differentiated game experience while leveraging MPL’s developer platform and maintaining a single build across the Play Store, App Store, and MPL app.

It also announced the acquisition of Delhi-based GamingMonk. GamingMonk hosts eSports tournaments across multiple platforms including PC, consoles, and mobile phones, and is known as a launch pad for publishers. It acts as a gaming community that has managed to build an integrated ecosystem across eSports, sports streaming, and content discovery. The acquisition will allow MPL to market national, regional, and global tournaments, while also developing eSports and broadcasting abilities.

Mobile Premier League’s Financials

MPL earns revenues in the form of entry fees from players who participate in the games. It also earns advertising revenues and collects a commission for tournaments held on its platform. It has seen strong revenue growth in the past. For FY21, MPL reported revenues of INR 499 crores (~$67 million), compared to INR 22.5 crores (~$3 million) in FY20. It recorded a net loss of INR 130 crores (~$17.5 million) compared with a net loss of INR 295 crores (~$39.6 million) a year ago. It is targeting sales of $100 million in gross merchandise revenue by the end of this year with a user base of over 300,000.

The company has raised $375.5 million in five rounds of funding led by SIG, Base Partners, Go-Ventures, Accrete Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Founders Circle Capital, Telstra Ventures, Pay Ventures, Legatum, and RTP Global. Its most recent round was held in September 2021, where it raised $150 million and was valued at over $2.3 billion. A funding round held in September 2020 had valued the company at $375-$400 million.

MPL plans to use the recently acquired funds to organize more eSports tournaments and accelerate its international expansion. It has been expanding in the US since last year and is eyeing other Asian markets to grow into.

MPL is not the only player in the space. It faces competition from other much larger global players including FanDuel in the US. FanDuel, which generated revenues of close to $2 billion in 2021 was acquired by Flutter Entertainment for $11.2 billion. MPL, on the other hand, has revenue of $67 million and a valuation of $2.3 billion, which is not very convincing. It needs to deliver a spectacular 2022 to back-fill the rich valuation.

Photo Credit: Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

This segment is a part in the series : Indian Unicorns 2022