Gaming firm Nazara Technologies raises Rs 250 crore in funding from ICICI Prudential, Nikhil Kamath

Listed gaming and media firm Nazara Technologies said on Wednesday that its board has approved a proposal to raise Rs 250 crore through a preferential issue of shares to existing investors including ICICI Prudential and Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath.

The firm will issue more than 2.8 million shares at Rs 872.15 each, it said in a filing with stock exchanges after market hours.

On Wednesday, the company’s shares ended 3.1% lower at Rs 937 on the BSE.


Entities related to Kamath will invest Rs 100 crore, while those of ICICI Prudential will put in Rs 75 crore. The remainder will come from investment firms Plutus Wealth Management and Chartered Finance & Leasing Ltd.

Following the latest investment, Kamath’s holding will become just under 5%, while ICICI Prudential’s will be over 5%, Nazara founder and chief executive Nitish Mittersain told ET in an interaction.

The latest funding is part of a Rs 750 crore fundraising that Nazara’s board had approved in July last year. It had earlier raised Rs 410 crore from SBI Mutual Fund and Rs 100 crore from Kamath.

“I think it is a huge validation for us that our existing investors are doubling down, and especially that Nikhil Kamath, who just onboarded in September, is already following up with another investment,” Mittersain said.

In another filing, Nazara said it also agreed to acquire a 10.77% stake in influencer marketing firm Kofluence Tech for over Rs 32 crore in shares. Under the deal, Nazara will issue more than 370,000 shares at Rs 872.15 each to the existing shareholders of Kofluence.

Nazara said Kofluence and it will jointly launch a platform that will employ influencers to help with its game distribution.

Nazara had launched a game publishing arm called Nazara Publishing in October last year, intending to invest at least Rs 1 crore each in up to 20 games over 18 months.

The company already publishes games like Animal Jam, Kiddopia and World Cricket Championship, which contributed to a third of its revenue in FY23.

With the latest fundraising, Nazara now has an overall cash position of Rs 1,500 crore, with Rs 500 crore of that coming from its subsidiaries, Mittersain told ET.

In its latest board meeting, the firm also received approval to increase the limits of providing loans or making investments in other firms to Rs 1,500 crores from Rs 1,000 crore, according to its filing.

Game development ambitions

In December, Nazara said it was collaborating with four Indian gaming studios to publish five games across various genres under the Nazara Publishing division. In August, Nazara invested Rs 4.15 crore in Israel-based game developer Snax Games, securing the exclusive rights to publish its games in India and the Middle East for five years.

“We are building a war chest for future merger and acquisitions, and are in talks with multiple gaming studios. We are also in advanced negotiations with three entities, including one gaming studio in the US,” Mittersain told ET, without giving further details.

Nazara is looking to acquire majority stakes through such investments. It is focusing on casual to ‘mid-core’ mobile games for about 90% of its investments, with 10% going to PC games, Mittersain said. It will invest in firms that are profitable or close to breaking, he added.