JetSynthesys-backed Jetapult looks to acquire gaming studios, plans to invest $100 million

Representative image.

Digital entertainment and technology firm JetSynthesys is planning to acquire gaming studios in India and abroad through its gaming startup Jetapult, which will work on an invest-and-operate model.

The company which in 2020 had announced the acquisition of Nautilus Mobile, the Pune-based game development studio behind the Real Cricket franchise, is now looking at game development studios across emerging markets like India, South-East Asia, Middle East, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

"We scanned around 6,500 gaming studios across markets and we have narrowed it down to 150. For our initial outlay, we see deployment of $100 million to get a significant number of studios in next 18-24 months," Rajan Navani, VC and MD of JetSynthesys, told Moneycontrol.

He said that there are many gaming studios that build games but are unable to scale the game and this is where Jetapult can come in.

Jetapult’s key selection criteria for acquiring a gaming studio would be its growth potential, presence of a strong team and revenue generation along with a review of the games they make, genre they are following, and growth capacity for the team. 

"We will be looking at studios that have built something and started generating revenue. We are not going to look at studios that don't have a product yet," said Sharan Tulsiani, CEO & Co-Founder, Jetapult.

He added that they will be looking at casual gaming in terms of content while acquiring gaming studios. 

The casual gaming market grew from Rs 190 crore in 2020 to Rs 300 crore last year, according to a FICCI-EY report.

Tulsiani, who led gaming at Google Play Asia - India and ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) markets and was also behind the Indie Games Accelerator (IGA) programme said supporting designers in small studios requires supplemental expertise across domains like game and economy design, product and engineering, and user acquisition, which Jetapult will offer to gaming studios it will acquire.

Along with Tulsiani, Jetapult’s team includes Yash Baid and Mangesh Anaokar. While Baid was previously Principal and Head of Research at 3one4 Capital and Partner at 256 Network, Anaokar has extensive M&A and investment experience having led investments and portfolio management at Bennett, Coleman and Co.

Navani said that through Jetapult, the company is trying to get the gaming industry organised.

Under its gaming vertical, the company has created games like the Sachin games, Being Salman, and Super Ludo. It also acquired Chennai-based esports firm Skyesports in August last year and is also a key investor in Nodwin Gaming, a subsidiary of gaming and sports media firm Nazara Technologies​.