Nazara Technologies on August 16 said it will invest up to $500,000 (around Rs 4.15 crore) in Israel-based Snax Games as the diversified gaming and sports media firm looks to expand its portfolio.
The investment will be made by Nazara Technologies' Singapore subsidiary in one or two tranches in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), the company said in a stock market filing. Following the agreement, Nazara Singapore will have the right to acquire equity shares in Snax Games at a future date.
The company has also entered into a publishing agreement with Snax Games, acquiring exclusive rights to publish the games in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East region on a revenue-sharing basis for five years.
Started by Adam Gal-Ed and Shahar Burg, Snax Games is in stealth mode. The startup's leadership team has over 20 years of experience and has been involved in developing multiple top-grossing games and intellectual properties for prominent gaming companies such as Scopely, Plarium and CrazyLab.
Snax Games plans to build mobile games in a new genre called “casual multi-game” and is working on its first game called Parties & Puzzle, which will soon be made available through Nazara’s publishing platform, the company said in a statement.
Nazara's casual gaming push
Nazara Technologies chief executive Nitish Mittersain had told Moneycontrol earlier that the company was looking to expand its freemium gaming business by backing more gaming studios amid a broader push to grow all of its verticals that includes eSports and adtech.
The company recently received the board's approval to raise up to Rs 750 crore through the issuance of equity shares. It intends to raise this capital through qualified institutional placements, preferential allotment or a combination of both.
Nazara Technologies owns a majority 71.88 percent stake in Nextwave Multimedia which develops casual and multiplayer mobile games in the sports genre.
Nextwave Multimedia's flagship title is World Cricket Championship (WCC), which claims to be the largest mobile-based cricket simulation game. It has also released two sequels — WCC2 and WCC3. The firm claims over 100 million downloads across mobile platforms in the past seven years.
Recently, Nazara Technologies also roped in gaming industry veteran Christopher Franklin as the CEO of Nextwave Multimedia, with founder PR Rajendran serving as the board chairman.
Nextwave Multimedia posted revenue of Rs 7.2 crore for the first quarter of the financial year 2024, a modest 7.5 percent year-on-year increase. The company, however, accounted for just 2.83 percent of Nazara Technologies' Q1 revenue which stood at Rs 254.4 crore.
At 3.11 pm, Nazara Technologies was trading at Rs 695.40 on the National Stock Exchange, up 5.03 percent from the previous close.
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