New Delhi, 27th November 2020: India’s largest vernacular social gaming platform WinZO is set to be the official co-powered sponsor of the India Tour of Australia on SonyLIV. This is the first time WinZO will be sponsoring a major sports event on a digital platform. SonyLIV is the OTT brand of Sony Pictures Networks India.
India’s tour of Australia, starting on 27th November 2020, is India’s first international tour after nine months post the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; India last played New Zealand in February 2020. The tour is two-month long, comprising a three-match ODI series, followed by a three-match T20 series and a four-match Test series.
WinZO was recently in news for its $18 million series B funding led by global interactive entertainment fund, Makers Fund, New York-based Courtside Venture, and Steve Pagliuca, the Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and investor in Epic Games - developers of massively popular game, Fortnite. All these investors have made their first investments in the Indian market for the first time through WinZO.
WinZO is on a mission to create a highly personalized and localized social gaming platform powered by Microtransactions, where users can enjoy multiple engaging gaming formats and fantasy sports in 10+ regional languages with their friends or strangers online. Founded by Mr. Paavan Nanda and Ms. Saumya Singh Rathore, WinZO has been successful in delivering strong positive unit economics in the Indian gaming ecosystem and has continued to support the Gaming ecosystem by setting-up a Game Developers Fund 2.0 of a $5 million corpus to fund projects in interactive entertainment space built by game developers.
Speaking on the development, Ms. Saumya Singh Rathore, Co-Founder, WinZO Games said, “India is a market with over a billion cricket fans who have been hungry for cricketing action for the last nine months. Post IPL, it is great to see the resuming of international tournaments as well and it’s a proud moment for us to associate with the first India-Australia International Series of the year. WinZO is always committed to bringing the best entertainment to Bharat”
Talking about the partnership, Ranjana Mangla, Head Ad Sales Revenue, Digital Business, SonyLIV said, “We are really delighted to have WinZO as a co-powered sponsor for the India tour of Australia on SonyLIV. This is a big overseas tournament that’s sure to drive viewership on the platform and be of value to both brands.”
About WinZO:
WinZO is the largest vernacular social gaming platform in India, launched in early 2018. The company partners with third party game studios to host their games on their Android app, creating a Netflix-like personalised and localized experience for users, who can enjoy multiplayer gaming formats with their friends or strangers online.
The platform is available in 12 languages with over 25+ million registered users. Clocking over 1 billion micro-transactions per month, WinZO offers 70+ games across various multiplayer formats. This vernacular social gaming platform focuses on building a community of gamers and game influencers in Tier 2 – Tier 5 cities of India.
WinZO was founded by Paavan Nanda, a second time entrepreneur, and Saumya Singh Rathore. It boasts a team of 60 members. Some of the major investors backing WinZO are - Makers Fund, Courtside, Kalaari Capital. WinZO is also backed by Stephan Pagliuca - Co-Chairman of Bain Capital and Co-owner of the popular NBA Basketball team, Boston Celtics.
