Indian e-wallet giant Paytm has now decided to venture into mobile games. The company recently revealed that it has joined hands with online lottery company AGTech Media, which has the backing of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, to make these mobile games in the Indian subcontinent.
According to information available, both the companies have decided to jointly put in about $16 million capital in the new company. According to AGTech’s filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Paytm will get to have a majority stake (55 percent) in the entity and have three seats on the board. Experts believe that Alibaba, which is also a majority investor in Paytm, to be the brains behind the deal.
Alibaba has been making use of AGTech platforms for its online lottery activities for quite some time now. The new joint venture between Paytm and AGTech media will be responsible for overseeing product development across mobile and web platforms in the South Asian country.
“The joint venture will offer innovative mobile games and user engagement activities to Indian consumers by leveraging the group’s decade-long experience in creating mobile entertainment products and Paytm Group’s massive distribution network to develop mobile games in India," said AGTech’s filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Alibaba’s interest in the Indian online gaming market isn't misplaced considering a recent Google-KPMG report revealed that the market is inching towards reaching $1 billion by the year 2021.
According to the Google-KPMG report, there has been a whopping 117 percent increase in searches for online games in India, mostly coming from the 16-45 age group. Asia currently makes up for more than a 60 per cent share of the global gaming revenue in 2016. Though most of this is currently coming from China and Japan, India with its 300 million gamers isn't far behind in the game.
Paytm, whose stakes increased overnight when the Indian government's surprised the citizens with its demonetisation drive late last year, claims to currently have over 220 million consumers on its platform. According to it, it can bring half a billion Indians on its platform by the year 2020.
For Alibaba, the JV will be its second outing in online gaming space in India. In 2016, the company launched launched a $20 million fund for online gaming startups in the country. Alibaba's accelerator ’9 Apps Dev’ helps developers build, monetize and publicize their products.
According to information available, both the companies have decided to jointly put in about $16 million capital in the new company. According to AGTech’s filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Paytm will get to have a majority stake (55 percent) in the entity and have three seats on the board. Experts believe that Alibaba, which is also a majority investor in Paytm, to be the brains behind the deal.
Alibaba has been making use of AGTech platforms for its online lottery activities for quite some time now. The new joint venture between Paytm and AGTech media will be responsible for overseeing product development across mobile and web platforms in the South Asian country.
“The joint venture will offer innovative mobile games and user engagement activities to Indian consumers by leveraging the group’s decade-long experience in creating mobile entertainment products and Paytm Group’s massive distribution network to develop mobile games in India," said AGTech’s filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Alibaba’s interest in the Indian online gaming market isn't misplaced considering a recent Google-KPMG report revealed that the market is inching towards reaching $1 billion by the year 2021.
According to the Google-KPMG report, there has been a whopping 117 percent increase in searches for online games in India, mostly coming from the 16-45 age group. Asia currently makes up for more than a 60 per cent share of the global gaming revenue in 2016. Though most of this is currently coming from China and Japan, India with its 300 million gamers isn't far behind in the game.
Paytm, whose stakes increased overnight when the Indian government's surprised the citizens with its demonetisation drive late last year, claims to currently have over 220 million consumers on its platform. According to it, it can bring half a billion Indians on its platform by the year 2020.
For Alibaba, the JV will be its second outing in online gaming space in India. In 2016, the company launched launched a $20 million fund for online gaming startups in the country. Alibaba's accelerator ’9 Apps Dev’ helps developers build, monetize and publicize their products.
Advertisements