nCore Games, a startup co-founded by gaming veterans Vishal Gondal and Dayanidhi MG, has made a strategic investment of $1 million in Newgen Gaming that operates the content and esports brand Penta Esports, marking its foray into esports, the company said on February 13.
Newgen Gaming plans to use the funds raised to accelerate the growth of its offerings and expand its team and operations across South Asia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regions.
Founded in 2021 by Anurag Khurana, Kiran Noojibail, Akshay Paul and Krishanu Ghosal, Newgen Gaming’s esports brand Penta Esports specialises in multiple verticals, including leagues, tournaments and content, with a focus on the country’s grassroots esports ecosystem.
Since its inception, the startup has launched leagues called the Penta Amateur League and the Penta Collegiate League for colleges and universities, alongside other tournament intellectual properties (IPs) like the Penta Invitational, Penta Cup, and Penta Challenge.
The company’s latest tournament Penta Pro Series was an official off-season event for Riot Games’ popular hero-based shooter title Valorant.
Penta Esports also has multiple content IPs with plans to launch additional IPs in the future, the company said in a statement.
“We will be scaling up rapidly and providing more opportunities to the players and experiences to the viewers across the region. Vishal and I always had a collective vision that has been aligned to bring growth to the gaming industry. This collaboration will be our first big step together,” said Newgen Gaming, CEO, Anurag Khurana.
Through this investment, nCore Games will get access to esports athletes and fans, as well as content IPs, like Esports in 5, 1v1, and Koffee with Kiran among others.
nCore Games, which counts Galaxy Interactive and Animoca Brands among its investors, houses gaming studios such as Studio nCore and Dot9 Games, besides a gamer loyalty platform for game developers called IceSpice. It has released three mobile games until now including FAU:G, ICC Cricket Mobile, and Apna Games.
“As we set out to build a full-stack gaming ecosystem, we believe Newgen Gaming will be an integral part. Esports event management and fan engagement are set to become key growth drivers for the industry, and we look forward to tapping into Newgen Gaming’s expertise in this area,” said nCore Games, co-founder, Vishal Gondal.
nCore Global CEO Kaval Bombra said, “We believe the team’s collective experience and vision has it poised for enormous growth and provides the right synergy for nCore as it works to establish a comprehensive gaming ecosystem.”
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