Gaming startup MPL ropes in Virat Kohli in Rs 12 crore deal

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Amid the growing frenzy around upcoming World Cup, gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL) has roped in Indian skipper Virat Kohli in a deal worth around Rs 12 crore, sources said. This will make it one of the biggest endorsements deals by a startup in the last few years.

Kohli, ranked India’s No. 1 celebrity brand endorser in 2018, has been roped in as ambassador by the 10-month-old startup for a period of one year. Spokespersons for both MPL and the cricketer did not comment on size of the deal.

MPL is an e-sports startup where users can play casual games, ranging from cricket to pool to racing and win money, depending on contests.


The company has raised over Rs 35 crore from Sequoia Capital India and has been in talks to raise another Rs 200 crore led by Indonesia’s ride hailing giant Go-Jek.

“Virat will help us build a strong defensible brand with moats around it,” said Sai Srinivas Kiran, CEO & co-founder of MPL, adding that the application already has seven-toeight million downloads, with players spending an hour on the platform. Kiran, whose previous startup CREO was acquired by messaging app Hike, said the startup has not finalised if they will build a game around Kohli.

The deal for MPL comes as the startup has been racking up close to one million daily active users (DAUs) with an aim to reach five million DAUs in the next few quarters.