Nazara set to raise up to Rs 750 Cr from QIBs

Gaming company Nazara Technologies is raising up to Rs 750 crore by way of issuance of new equity shares or any other equity linked instruments through qualified institutional placements.

The board of directors at Nazara Technologies has passed a resolution to raise up to Rs 750 crore and also approved the increase of authorized share capital to Rs 50 crore, document sourced from National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows. The firm hasn’t disclosed investor names who will acquire new shares.

Nazara Technologies is a gaming and sports media platform which has spans multiple regions, including India, as well as Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. It provides eSports engagements, ad-tech solutions, and learning ecosystems.

Over the past couple of years, Nazara has backed several companies such as web3 gaming venture Kratos Studios in its $20 million seed round. Notably, former Nazara’s CEO Manish Aggarwal and angel investor Ishank Gupta are the co-founders of Kratos.  In May, its subsidiary Nodwin scooped up $28 million from Nazara, Krafton and others at a post money valuation of $349 million. Its notable investments include Halaplay, WildWorks, Kiddopia, Sports Unity, Sportskeeda, and Datawrkz.

Nazara filed its initial public offering papers in January 2021 and got listed on the stock exchange in March. The company is currently running a share price of Rs 725. It touched its 52 week high price to Rs 789 on 12th September last year. Currently, Nazara’s market cap stands at around Rs 4,800 crore or $585 million.

The company primarily generates revenue from its eSport segment followed by gamified early learning and adtech business. Further, it also makes a small part of the revenue from real money gaming, telco subscriptions and freemium services. It registered 75.5% growth in its operating scale to Rs 1,091 crore during FY23 as compared to Rs 621.7 crore in FY22. As per the company's consolidated annual financial statements, its profits also increased 21.1% to Rs 61.4 crore during the last fiscal from Rs 50.7 crore in FY22.