Nazara Technologies acquires majority stake in Datawrkz for Rs 124 cr

Sports media and gaming company Nazara Technologies on Tuesday said that it will acquire 55 percent of programmatic advertising and monetization company Datawrkz for about Rs 124 crore.

The transaction values the Bengaluru-based company at Rs 225 crore (approximately USD 30 million), linked to CY 22 EBITDA performance, according to a filing.

The Board has approved the strategic investment by the acquisition of 37,498 equity shares, representing 55 percent of the share capital, on a fully diluted basis, of Datawrkz Business Solutions Private Limited along with its wholly owned subsidiaries for full consideration do not exceed Rs 124 crore in two tranches, it added.

It said that the shares will be bought from existing shareholders Senthil Govindan, Karthiga Dhanapalan, K Arunprabhu, Mayank Kherwadkar and Vishal Tukaranm Garale.

In the first tranche, Nazara will acquire a 33% share for Rs 60 crore during the first quarter of FY2022-23 and will retain the option to acquire an additional 22% stake in the second tranche, which is expected to close. in the fourth quarter FY22 aggregate deposit quarter -23.

In a statement, Nazara said that of Rs 60 crore payable, Rs 35 crore payable partly in cash and the remaining consideration of Rs 25 crore will be paid in cash or through share exchange in the first tranche by April 2022.

Datawrkz's tech offerings will enhance Nazara's internal capabilities to optimize customer acquisition spend and also drive ad monetization revenue for its large consumer base. This monetization of advertising revenue is expected to help many companies in the "Friends of Nazara" network.

With this transaction, Datawrkz also aims to establish itself as a major player in gaming, covering both supply and demand side offerings of gaming system in the US and India.

Founded in 2013 by Senthil Govindan, Datawrkz is a global ad technology company focused on accelerating user growth and customer revenue through highly optimized digital advertising.

With offices in the US, Singapore and India, the company operates as an independent trading desk to support digital media strategy, planning and execution.

For calendar year 2021, Datawrkz posted combined revenue of Rs 90.7 crore (approximately $12.1 million).

We at Nazara look to build strong global gaming ad tech offerings in partnership with Datawrkz.

We strongly believe that the growth of game-centric ad tech will be tremendous in the next decade across all geographies with the growth of game players and game publishers in Freemium, Web 3.0 and skill-based real money games,” Manish said. Agarwal, CEO of Nazara. Technologies.

He added that ad tech companies with deep data processing capabilities and proprietary data ownership will emerge as winners in gaming-focused ad tech and help Datawrkz create value for itself as well as for Nazara shareholders.

In recent years, Nazara has acquired multiple companies and solidified its position in the esports, interactive gaming, and early learning space through its "Friends of Nazara" network.

Nazara acquired a majority stake in Nodwin Gaming (57.05 percent); Next Wave Multimedia (52.38%), which operates the World Cricket Championship (WCC) mobile cricket simulation game, Absolute Sports, which operates Sportskeeda (63.90%), the early learning subscription app, Paper Boat Apps (50.91%) and Skill OpenPlay gaming platform (100%).

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