December marked the end of what has been a year of mixed emotions for the Indian esports sector. From limitations caused by the pandemic to uncertainties with the PUBG Mobile ban, companies in India are now gearing towards expanding their portfolios and being less dependent on publishers. 

These are the biggest esports business stories in India for the month of December, in collaboration with AFK Gaming.

Team Vitality establishes Indian presence with four signings

French esports organisation, Team Vitality formalised their presence in India with the signing of four content creators from the country. The organisation also announced Mumbai as its base of operations and revealed Randall Fernandez, formerly of Sony Playstation, as the General Manager of the India Division. 

You can read more about Team Vitality and their plans in India here. 

Activision Blizzard and Pocket Aces’ Loco partner to host India’s biggest Call of Duty Mobile Tournament

Indian live streaming and esports platform, Pocket Aces’ Loco announced a partnership with Activision Blizzard to host the nation’s biggest Call of Duty: Mobile event. The prize pool for the IP – Call of Duty Mobile India Cup was set at INR 3.5m (~£35,200). This solidifies Loco’s push for establishing themselves as an esports and game streaming platform, with past content deals including ones with Red Bull, NBA2K League and a variety of popular Indian content creators. 

Gaming start-up EWar raises Pre-Series A funding round from Inflection Point Ventures

Bengaluru-based gaming and esports start-up, EWar Games has raised a Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), JITO Angel Network, Hyderabad Angels. Moreover, Ms. Pearl Agarwal, the Founder & Director, Eximius Ventures participated in the round in a personal capacity. The exact amount is undisclosed.

The funds raised will be utilised to drive further penetration into the Indian esports industry by introducing several new technologies and products. Apart from marketing and growing the franchise and its platform, EWar is also developing a layer over its existing esports products in an attempt to make the sector more competitive and increase external viewership.

This is the second round of funding raised by EWar during 2020. The company previously raised $200,000( ~£147,200) from House of Jindals and Mr. Jeet Banerjee, the Founder of Gameplan.

Krafton assembles PUBG Mobile India operations team

While PUBG Mobile continues to remain banned in India, Krafton has begun to set up operations in order to prepare for a smooth launch once government approval is met. After appointing former Tencent Business Head of South Asia, Aneesh Aravind as the Country Manager, Krafton also acquired other roles from Tencent to help with the transition. These include Akash Jumde as the Visual Content Designer, Piyush Agarwal as Finance Manager, Arpita Priyadarshini as Senior Community Manager and Karan Pathak as Senior Esports Manager. 

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AFK Gaming is an India-based esports media and content company that aims to provide quality and consistent coverage about teams, players, tournaments and competitive video games with a primary focus on the Asian region.