MPL attains unicorn status, doubles valuation in months

E-sports and skill gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) has raised a new round and entered the coveted unicorn club. This is the company’s second financing round in 2021. It raised $95 million in a Series D post-money valuation of $945 million in February.

According to the company, it has raised a Series E round led by Legatum Capital at a valuation of $2.3 billion — more than doubling its valuation in 7 to 8 months. Accrete Capital, Gaingels LLC and existing investors such as Moore Strategic Ventures LLC and RTP Global also participated.  

MPL will use the fresh infusion of capital to finance its global expansion, invest in its home-grown technology, and drive continued growth in the Indian market, said the company in a press release.

This investment comes just before the commencement of the remaining games of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in which MPL has invested heavily in advertising and digital media rights. 

MPL’s announcement confirms Entrackr’s break from April which said that the company would raise around $150 million at a valuation of around $2 billion.

MPL works with third-party developers and then publishes their game on the platform where users can participate in skill-based games including cricket, puzzles, chess and crossword to win cash prizes.

MPL claims that it has about 80 million users, of which about 10 million are paid. In Indonesia, its user count has reached 5 million. In July, the company was launched in the US and it’s targeting 300,000 users and over $100 million in gross merchandise value by the end of the year.

Earlier in April, the Sai Srinivas-led company had acquired e-sports gaming platform GamingMonk. The New Delhi-based startup hosts esports tournaments across multiple platforms including PC, consoles and mobile phones.

MPL has become the second startup in the skill-based gaming space to become a unicorn. Dream11 achieved the feat in April 2019. It’s worth noting that the Tiger Global-backed firm is also in talks with new and existing investors to raise a new round at around $8 billion valuation.

Entrackr had exclusively reported the development on August 30.

This funding also makes three-year-old MPL one of the fastest unicorns. Other companies to have attained unicorn status in a short span of time include InMobi, Ola Electric, Udaan and Cred.  

Overall, the Indian startup ecosystem has seen 26 companies turning unicorns in 2021. Only last month, seven startups including Zetwerk, Grofers, Eruditus, CoinDCX, upGrad, MindTickle and BharatPe had raised their fresh round at unicorn valuation.