OneVerse acquires Spartan Poker for undisclosed amount

MetaVerse and gaming tech company OneVerse has acquired online poker platform, Spartan Poker, for an undisclosed amount.

This is a continuation of OneVerse’s M&A strategy looking to consolidate the gaming market, OneVerse said in a press release. It added that the recent macroeconomic headwinds have unlocked momentum for M&A opportunities, and the company is looking to close a few additional acquisitions in the next three months for $120 million.

Spartan Poker's founder and CEO Amin Rozani said, "...This acquisition opens up new horizons for creativity and technological advancements, and we look forward to creating extraordinary customer gaming experiences together."

The development comes six months after Spartan Poker fired 40% of its workforce or 125 employees due to the government's 28% GST on real-money gaming companies.

With over 2 million registered users, Spartan is one of the largest online platforms for poker in India. It has also not raised venture capital to date.

Spartan claims that it clocked a revenue of Rs 200 crore but its consolidated financial statements with the RoC showed that it made Rs 95 crore in FY23 while its losses stood at Rs 6.21 crore in the same period. 

The consolidation appears to be driven by the 28% GST rule introduced by the Indian government effective from October last year. Since then, a clutch of startups including Fantok, One World Nation (OWN), and Quizy shut their operations while MPL, and Hike Rush Gaming have fired more than 400 employees, cumulatively.

Dream11, the largest player in the space, was also impacted heavily by the GST crackdown. The firm had shut down its investment arm Dream Capital and projected an 80% fall in its profits in the ongoing fiscal.