 "MPL")
Gaming unicorn Mobile Premier League (MPL) said it has seen massive growth in revenues in FY23. In the year ending March 2023, MPL’s revenue soared 63 per cent to reach $104.6 million from $64.1 million in FY22. Notably, the company has derived 38 per cent of this revenue from its operations in international markets, up from 11 per cent in FY22. Besides its home country, India, MPL is present in North America, Africa, and Europe.
Its losses in the same period narrowed by more than 70 per cent to become $37.04 million from $194.47 million in FY22. The company said this reduction was due to its shift in marketing strategy focusing on return on investment (ROI) and also optimisation of infrastructure costs.
Founded in 2018, MPL quickly moved to establish a presence in other geographies, one of the first Indian gaming companies to do so. In 2021, it launched in the United States, and the following year, it acquired GameDuell, one of the biggest gaming companies in Europe known for its community card and board games. This year, MPL forayed into Africa by partnering with Carry1st, a leading gaming company on the continent.
This partnership allowed MPL to tap into Carry1st's extensive knowledge of the 270 million-plus African gaming market.
In September 2021, MPL raised its Series E round of financing led by Legatum Capital at a pre-money valuation of $2.3 billion. This made it India's second gaming unicorn or start-up valued at over $1 billion. The firm competes with players such as Dream11, WinZO, and My11Circle.
The Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020 also provided a fillip to an already booming eSports industry in India and the world. However, later, like other startups, MPL also faced the challenge of the funding winter and macroeconomic uncertainty, according to the sources. It had been trying to cut costs and become profitable. Last year in May, the firm laid off around 100 people and exited the Indonesian market.
