Manish Agarwal will step down as chief executive officer (CEO) of diversified gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies on December 1 after nearly a seven and half year stint, the company said on October 20.
Nitish Mittersain, the company's founder, will take over as CEO in addition to his existing position as joint managing director. Agarwal intends to pursue an entrepreneurial journey, the company said in a statement. He will continue to serve as a nominee on the boards of Nazara Technologies' subsidiaries, it said.
“Manish and I have worked closely together over the last 7 years to build a strong foundation on which Nazara will continue to grow rapidly in the years to come. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors" Mittersain said in a statement.
Agarwal joined Nazara Technologies, one of India's oldest gaming companies, in June 2015. Before that, he was the chief executive of Reliance Games for about three years. Reliance Games is a unit of Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment that develops and publishes mobile games.
Agarwal also managed Reliance Entertainment's other businesses, including Bigflix, Bigadda, Zapak Digital Entertainment, and Jump Games, among others.
Prior to Reliance Entertainment, he has had stints at UTV Software, Microsoft, Rediff.com and Hindustan Unilever Limited. Overall, he has more than 21 years of experience across multiple fields such as gaming and marketing.
Under Agarwal, Nazara Technologies reinvented itself as a diversified gaming and sports media business through a series of acquisitions and investments, including Nodwin Gaming and SportsKeeda in the esports segment; gamified early learning apps Kiddopia and Wildworks; Next Wave Multimedia, developer of the World Cricket Championship (WCC) in freemium games; and Halaplay, Qunami, and OpenPlay in the skill based real money gaming vertical.
Read: We are now looking at larger deals as our scale is increasing: Nazara Technologies CEO
In January 2022, the company announced plans to acquire a 55% stake in programmatic advertising and monetisation company Datawrkz, marking its entry into the ad-tech market.
In order to expand its deal pipeline, Nazara Technologies announced investments in global gaming and Web3-focused investment firms such as Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures early this year.
The company made its public market debut in March 2021, listing at an 80.7 percent premium on the National Stock Exchange. Since then, the stock has slid by more than 50% amid a broader market correction.
New COO
The company also announced the appointment of Sudhir Kamat as chief operating officer (COO). Kamath previously founded Sparskills Technologies, wherein he developed and scaled the online poker platform 9stacks.
He has over 20 years of experience in strategy consulting, private equity investing, and operations and has handled strategy, asset acquisitions or exits, and regulatory matters, the company said in a statement.
"Sudhir is an established business leader who has built high-performance teams across ventures and brings a wide network of relationships in the gaming world. With his deep operating expertise and entrepreneurial mindset, we are confident that he will contribute immensely in propelling Nazara to new heights" Mittersain said.
Revenue jumps 104% in Q2FY23
Nazara Technologies reported a profit after tax of Rs 16.9 crore for the quarter ended September 30,2022 (Q2 FY23), as against Rs 15.3 crore profit in the same quarter last year.
Revenue grew 104% to Rs 263.8 crore for the quarter, from Rs 129.6 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Nazara reported a 16% year-on-year (YoY) increase in profit after tax to Rs 33.4 crore for the first half of FY23, while revenue increased by 87% to Rs 486.9 crore.
Esports and gamified early learning remain the two biggest verticals, making up 49% and 23% of the company's topline in H1 FY23, respectively. Ad-tech has emerged as another key growth engine, accounting for 14% of the company's revenues in H1 FY23.
"We have revised our guidance upward for FY23, and expect our FY23 consolidated revenues to grow in the range of 70-75% on a YoY basis with EBITDA margin above 10%. This is primarily driven by growth in our existing businesses" Mittersain said.
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