BGMI Parent Krafton Invests $5.4 Million In Nautilus Mobile, An Indian Sports Game Studio

BGMI parent, South Korea's Krafton, has invested $5.4 million in an Indian sports game developer, Nautilus Mobile.

Representative image/Getty

New Delhi: Battlegrounds Mobile India or BGMI parent, South Korea's Krafton, has invested $5.4 million in an Indian sports game developer, Nautilus Mobile, the media has reported. This is the South Korean game producer's first-ever investment in an Indian game development studio and it is being said that the company is aiming a larger pie in India's growing online gaming industry.

Nautilus Mobile is the developer of Real Cricket and it is currently ranked top among the global simulation-based cricket gaming franchises with more than 100 million downloads and a community of 10 million monthly active users (MAUs). “Nautilus Mobile is a game developer that successfully established cricket games and secured a community with a high level of participation,” Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of Krafton’s India unit was quoted as saying in a report by The Korea Economic Daily.

“We will provide differentiated sports game experiences for Indian users.”

Earlier last year, South Korea's Krafton had earlier invested $22.5 million in JetSynthesys’ esports venture Nodwin Gaming. Established in 2013, Nautilus Mobile was later bought by JetSynthesys in October 2020. JetSynthesys would continue to remain the majority shareholder in Nautilus after the investment from Krafton, reports added.

Meanwhile, the BGMI parent had also invested $5 million in Indian dating app FRND as part of a Series A round of funding worth $6.5 million that includes other investors, such as Elevation Capital and India Quotient. FRND is a Bengaluru-based dating and friend discovery startup that lets users connect with each other through one-on-one voice chat while playing games. The app provides services in 10 Indian languages. The startup is reportedly mulling to expand to more Indian languages after the investment.