[Funding alert] MPL raises $95M from Composite Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, others

E-sports and mobile gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) on Thursday announced raising $95 million (about Rs 692.7 crore) funding from Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures, with its valuation post the deal touching $945 million (about Rs 6,890.7 crore).

The series D round also saw participation from Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG, Go-Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Founders Circle, and Play Ventures, a statement said.

The total capital raised by MPL now stands at $225.5 million, it added.

"MPL will use this fresh influx of funds to expand its eSports portfolio and bolster its efforts to organise more such eSports tournaments nationally and internationally at scale. The funds will also be used to accelerate MPL's international expansion this year," it said.

Founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra, MPL currently employs over 500 people with offices in Bengaluru, Pune, Jakarta, and Singapore. The MPL gaming platform has over 60 million users in India and over 3.5 million users in Indonesia.

The pandemic-induced lockdown last year provided a fillip to an already-booming e-sports industry, benefiting players like MPL.

"As we grow our presence and expand, this fresh round of funds will help us focus on our core value propositions - a robust platform with the best features for gamers and onboarding the best eSports titles," MPL Co-founder and CEO Sai Srinivas said.

The e-sports community in India is thriving, and we believe this is the perfect time to take Indian-made games to the world as well as help Indian gamers get recognized for their talent, Srinivas added.

Last week, MPL had also announced raising $500,000 from existing employees under its Employee Investment Plan, which saw participation from 10 percent of the company's employees.

The Employee Investment Plan, which was announced in December 2020, was open to all employees of MPL. They could invest anywhere between $2,300 and $23,000 in the company to acquire stock.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)