ThinkStock PhotosNEW DELHI: Early-stage venture capital firm, WaterBridge Ventures, has led a Rs 28 crore Series A funding round in SparSkills Technologies, which owns and operates online poker platform 9stacks, a transaction that signals the growing interest of investors in the country’s nascent real money gaming segment.
Proceeds from the latest funding round will be used by the 14 month-old company to expand its team, and further build its technology platform. The new round of equity financing comes less than a year after 9stacks raised Rs 10 crore from a clutch of angel investors last December.
“We have sharp focus on analytics. Therefore some of the money will go towards deepening that side, as we get more into machine learning. We are looking at newer markets, therefore some of proceeds will go towards that,” Sudhir Kamath, chief executive of 9stacks told ET.
9stacks was founded in 2017 by Kamath, who previously headed oil and gas exploration company Suntera Energy, Pratik Kumar, who was previously the marketing head at Nykaa, Boston Consulting Group alum Abhinav Nigam and Rishab Mathur, who led mobile technology for Nearbuy.
The company, which counts Swati Gupta, founder of B2B online commerce company IndustryBuying and Anant Daga, managing director of fashion retailer W, along with a number of private equity and venture capital professionals, claims to have a monthly active user base ranging between 5,000-10,000.
“India is at the cusp of massive online gaming adoption with an exponential increase in players and revenue expected in this sector. Real money gaming will have a significant wallet share of online due to ubiquitous mobile access, increasing disposable income, convenience and superior user experience,” Manish Kheterpal, managing partner at WaterBridge Ventures, said.
The development follows a favourable judgement that online fantasy sports platform Dream11 won from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April this year. The court had held that playing fantasy games required considerable skill, judgement and discretion, and cannot be considered gambling.
Dream11, which was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2011, recently closed a large funding round, estimated at about $100 million, and which was led Tencent Holdings, the world’s fifth-largest internet company.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s judgement should provided significant relief for startups operating in the space, with investors, across the globe, looking to strike deals in the burgeoning segment. According to Kamath, the online poker market in India is currently estimated at Rs 500-Rs 700 crore.
“Over the next three years that range should increase to Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 crore, as more of the market shifts to legitimate online channels…There’s a very clear point that Poker should fall under games of skill, and that is supported by some states, such as West Bengal.
Proceeds from the latest funding round will be used by the 14 month-old company to expand its team, and further build its technology platform. The new round of equity financing comes less than a year after 9stacks raised Rs 10 crore from a clutch of angel investors last December.
“We have sharp focus on analytics. Therefore some of the money will go towards deepening that side, as we get more into machine learning. We are looking at newer markets, therefore some of proceeds will go towards that,” Sudhir Kamath, chief executive of 9stacks told ET.
9stacks was founded in 2017 by Kamath, who previously headed oil and gas exploration company Suntera Energy, Pratik Kumar, who was previously the marketing head at Nykaa, Boston Consulting Group alum Abhinav Nigam and Rishab Mathur, who led mobile technology for Nearbuy.
The company, which counts Swati Gupta, founder of B2B online commerce company IndustryBuying and Anant Daga, managing director of fashion retailer W, along with a number of private equity and venture capital professionals, claims to have a monthly active user base ranging between 5,000-10,000.
“India is at the cusp of massive online gaming adoption with an exponential increase in players and revenue expected in this sector. Real money gaming will have a significant wallet share of online due to ubiquitous mobile access, increasing disposable income, convenience and superior user experience,” Manish Kheterpal, managing partner at WaterBridge Ventures, said.
The development follows a favourable judgement that online fantasy sports platform Dream11 won from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April this year. The court had held that playing fantasy games required considerable skill, judgement and discretion, and cannot be considered gambling.
Dream11, which was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2011, recently closed a large funding round, estimated at about $100 million, and which was led Tencent Holdings, the world’s fifth-largest internet company.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s judgement should provided significant relief for startups operating in the space, with investors, across the globe, looking to strike deals in the burgeoning segment. According to Kamath, the online poker market in India is currently estimated at Rs 500-Rs 700 crore.
“Over the next three years that range should increase to Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 crore, as more of the market shifts to legitimate online channels…There’s a very clear point that Poker should fall under games of skill, and that is supported by some states, such as West Bengal.
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