Nazara Technologies targets profit of Rs 100 Cr in FY 2019

Nazara Technologies, which is planning to launch Rs 1,000-crore IPO by the end of financial year, is confident of delivering a profit after tax of Rs 100 crore for the financial year 2019.

The mobile game publishing company has crossed gross customer billings of more than Rs 550 crore for its most popular game, Chhota Bheem, with profit after tax of Rs 66 crore.

Founded in 2000, Nazara Technologies uses an artificial intelligence-based system, where the end player can experience playing like the Indian cricketer.

The mobile gaming publisher is operational in 74 countries including India, Dubai, Singapore, and Mauritius.

The company had partnered with the studio last year to launch a 4D cricket game-Virat Super Cricket and Epic Cricket, featuring Indian cricket run machine Virat Kohli.

As of September 2017, the gaming company had amassed over 34 million downloads with over 10 million monthly active users.

It has so far raised over $80 million from various investors -- Westbridge Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, IIFL Asset Management and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

The company raised $51 million alone from IIFL in early December.

In the same month, Veteran investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala invested $27 million in Nazara Technologies. He has also acquired a minority stake in the company.

The company is now looking to its focus from casual mobile gaming to other platforms and become a broader ecosystem player in the space.

In November, Nazara Games along with Kae Capital invested in Bengaluru-based HalaPlay, a daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform. Kae and Nazara will pick up a 32 per cent stake in the gaming company.

Besides HalaPlay, Nazara Games invested an undisclosed amount in game development studio Moong Labs, a developer of 3D cricket simulation games in August.

In February this year, Nazara Games had committed to investing $21 million in its eSports venture over the next five years.