On Wednesday, Halaplay Technology announced that they had received Rs 40 cr ($5.8 million USD) in funding from Nazara Technologies and Delta Corp. Both of these companies already had strong ties to Halaplay, so it was not surprising to see them get involved in the new round of funding.
In December, Nazara had joined with Kae Capital to provide Halaplay with the same amount of investment. This was part of an effort by Halaplay to reach between $15 million and $20 million USD in funding from investors, with Nazara providing nearly 20% of the total amount that was provided.
Earlier this month, Delta joined with their subsidiary, Gaussian, to purchase nearly 32,000 equity shares of Halaplay Technologies. This gave Delta and Gaussian nearly 15% of the total capital shares in the fantasy sports website.
Halaplay Technologies has had no problem receiving investments. Since beginning operations in January 2017, they have seen substantial growth in the number of consumers using the fantasy sports website. In 2018 alone, the company saw a tenfold increase in the number of users, and many believe that they could see a 500% or greater increase this year as well.
With 100 million citizens in India expected to play fantasy sports by the end of 2019, getting on board with sites dedicated to providing this service to the customer seems to be a prime interest at both Delta and Nazara.
It has been the commitment at Halaplay Technologies to provide a fantasy sports platform for both football and Kabaddi games that has given the company great traction. While they have diversified into other areas, especially cricket, it has been these two original areas of focus that have helped to catapult them to the top of the market in India.
The 100 million participants in India joining fantasy sports is not a delusion. According to a report filed by Google and KPMG, it is expected that the online gaming industry in the country will reach $1 billion USD by 2021, an increase of $640 million USD over the revenue reported at the end of 2017.
With the cricket season just around the corner, this looks like an optimal time to extend the performance of Halaplay’s platform, which will be a significant focus of the investment. The seed money is expected to be used specifically to boost marketing as well as to enhance product development and expand the teams working on marketing and customer acquisition.
The ultimate goal is to carve out an even larger share of the market by adding new features and additional sports. This should easily keep them at the top of the chart of fantasy sports gaming in India.
