[Funding Alert] MPL Raises $90 Million In Series C Round, Led by SIG and RTP Global

• Mobile Premier League (MPL) raised $90 million in Series C funding, led by SIG and early-stage tech investor RTP Global.
• Between March and now, MPL has grown over 4x and is currently the largest gaming platform in the country.
• MPL offers more than 70 games on its app, working with over 28 game developers and studios and has added 60 million users in the last 18 months.

India’s largest esports and fantasy gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL) raised $90 million in Series C funding, led by SIG and early-stage tech investor RTP Global, along with MDI Ventures and Pegasus Tech Ventures.

Existing investors Sequoia India, Go-Ventures, and Base Partners also participated in this round. The investment brings MPL’s total funding to $130.5 million after the previous funding of $40.5 million.

The funding comes at a time when online gaming and fantasy sports are witnessing rapid growth that is poised to peak during IPL, which kicked off over the weekend.

Between March and now, MPL has grown over 4x and is currently the largest gaming platform in the country, having onboarded marquee titles such as World Cricket Championship.

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The fresh capital would be used to expand MPL’s product offering, with a focus on social functions such as live streaming, audio, and video content features. MPL will use the capital to further accelerate MPL’s dominant position in the gaming market, expand its product offering, and grow its team.

Speaking about the funding, Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder and CEO at Mobile Premier League, said, "In a short time, MPL has taken the gaming market by storm, with our various offerings and partnerships, which have helped us stand out in the industry. This latest round of funding will enable us to entertain and connect an even larger audience across India and beyond. The online gaming industry is seeing huge and increasing engagement."

Founded in 2018, MPL offers more than 70 games on its app, working with over 28 game developers and studios and has added 60 million users in the last 18 months.

MPL’s platform model, where game developers can publish their games with ease, opens up a new revenue stream where developers can monetize their game from day 1. As a result, MPL offers a plethora of gaming content to its wide userbase allowing them to choose from among esports, casual, fantasy, and arcade game options.

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Galina Chifina, Managing Partner at RTP Global, an early investor, said, "We invested in MPL at an early stage because we saw the team had the ability to become the dominant platform in the region’s online gaming space. MPL’s growth over the past two years is a testament to the team’s vision and ability to realize this goal."

With approximately 300 million gamers, India sits among the top five gaming markets globally. Further, there has already been a boost in online gaming in recent months due to the impact of Covid-19 on society.

MPL was founded by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra. It has a 300-member team with offices in Bengaluru, Pune, and Jakarta. Over the past four months, the number of games played on MPL’s most popular titles has increased by more than 700%.

In less than two years, MPL has signed Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador, sponsored two top Indian Premier League (IPL) teams – Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore – and also bagged the presenting sponsorship of reality TV show Bigg Boss, anchored by Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan.

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