Diversified gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies is consolidating its real-money gaming (RMG) offerings under its associate firm Moonshine Technology, the parent firm of online poker platform PokerBaazi.
On March 7, Nazara Technologies announced the sale of its 94.85 percent stake in OpenPlay Technologies, which runs the popular rummy platform Classic Rummy, to Moonshine through a share swap transaction valued at Rs 104.33 crore.
As per the deal, Moonshine will issue 1,99,890 Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) to Nazara and other sellers through this transaction. Following this, OpenPlay will become a subsidiary of Moonshine, in which Nazara currently holds a 46.07 percent stake.
“The acquisition of OpenPlay is in line with Moonshine’s vision of building a holistic made-in-India RMG ecosystem. We look forward to leveraging OpenPlay’s strong foundation and accelerating the growth by enhancing user experience with our best-in-class technology and product innovations” said Moonshine Technology founder Navkiran Singh.
Nazara had earlier acquired OpenPlay for Rs 186.4 crore in August 2021. The firm reported an annual turnover of Rs 37.4 crore for FY24, accounting for 3.3 percent of Nazara's overall turnover.
In September 2024, Nazara also announced a Rs 982 crore investment in Moonshine in September 2024, marking its largest infusion to date as a diversified gaming and sports media firm. This includes paying Rs 831.5 crore to Moonshine shareholders in a secondary transaction and pumping an additional Rs 150 crore in primary capital to the firm.
Expanding Online Rummy footprint
With this acquisition, Moonshine will integrate OpenPlay’s rummy platform into its existing rummy offerings.
The firm aims to leverage its technological, marketing, and data-driven expertise to drive significant growth in India’s rapidly-expanding online rummy market that has players such as Games24x7's RummyCircle, Gameskraft's Rummyculture, Head Digital Works' A23, and Junglee Rummy among others.
These moves however come as the country’s RMG sector is still grappling with the impact of the 28 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime that came into effect in October 2023.
Nazara stated that this deal will help boost player engagement through cross-platform strategies, optimise user acquisition with shared data-driven insights and improve cost efficiencies through unified infrastructure and marketing efforts.
The company mentioned that OpenPlay has “successfully optimized costs and strengthened VIP retention” post the GST regulatory changes demonstrating “resilience in a challenging market”. “This acquisition ensures a scalable and sustainable RMG business model under Moonshine’s leadership” it said.
OpenPlay Technologies CEO Deepak MV said “We at OpenPlay are excited to join forces with an industry leader like PokerBaazi/Moonshine and this marks a significant step in creating a more formidable RMG powerhouse. We are confident that Moonshine’s proven expertise in RMG will enable us to unlock substantial value in the Rummy segment”.
In recent months, India's RMG market has been witnessing increasing consolidation. Head Digital Works is purchasing Delta Corp's skill gaming unit Deltatech Gaming, which runs one of India's oldest online poker platforms Adda52, for Rs 491 crore.
Metaverse and gaming tech company OneVerse has also purchased startups such as online poker platforms Spartan Poker, Calling Station, and PokerSaint and fantasy sports app BatBall11.
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