MPL scores $95 Mn in Series D round at a valuation of $945 Mn

Mobile Premier League or MPL has scooped up $95 million in its Series D round led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures with participation from Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Founders circle and Play Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based online gaming startup has announced the new round within five months of raising $90 million in its Series C round from SIG, RTP Global and MDI Ventures. 

This takes total investments in MPL to over $225 million till date. According to MPL, it has reached the post-money valuation of $945 million. The Sai Srinivas-led company has become the second-most valued startup in the segment after Dream11, which had scored $225 million in September 2020 at a valuation of $2.5 billion.

According to the company, it will utilise the latest proceeds to organize more esports tournaments in the country and to accelerate its international expansion this year.

“As we grow our presence and expand, this fresh round of funds will help us focus on our core value propositions - a robust platform with the best features for gamers and onboarding the best eSports titles. 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,” Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of MPL, said in a statement.

The gaming platform claims to have over 60 million users in India and over 3.5 million users in Indonesia. With more than 50 games across categories on its Android and iOS apps, MPL has worked with 28 game developers to publish their games on the platform and provide them with a new revenue stream. 

It’s worth noting that MPL is not on Google Play Store since Google doesn’t allow online fantasy and real money gaming platforms due to its anti-gambling policy in the country. 

During its Series C round in September, MPL had announced an ESOP buyback plan worth $3.2 million. Last week, MPL raised $500,000 from existing employees under its Employee Investment Plan, which saw participation from 10% of the company’s employees. 

Besides the global investors, Oyo’s founder Ritesh Agarwal has also backed the company through his venture RA MPL Holding Pte.