Baazi Games in talks to raise up to $40 million for PokerBaazi

Varun Ganjoo, cofounder of Baazi Games, told ET that talks for the Series-A funding round are on and he expects the contracts to be signed in the next few months.

“Collectively, we have raised somewhere around $20 million till now, and now our aim is to raise around $35-40 million. Primarily, it’s for two aspects–one is the technology bit, which we feel is at the core of our business and for marketing,” said Ganjoo, who is also the marketing director.

“We call ourselves a technology business, which is having expertise in gaming and not otherwise, because of the importance of technology. So, we would be spending on technology. We will be expanding the team,” he said.

Baazi Games, according to Ganjoo, has a little over 300 employees, of which about 60% are in technology and analytics. “We will have a pipeline of another 200 people over the next few months,” he said.

On valuation, he said the company isn’t chasing valuation. “Our foundations are so solid and it would not take much time to get those tags. However, we are a unit metrics driven brand. We believe in making longterm sustainable businesses,” Ganjoo said. “So, I think that is where we are confident that our growth journey is here to stay and we will continue growing at the pace that we are.”

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Launched in October 2014 by a group of poker players, PokerBaazi.com, has become India’s biggest poker platform with 2.5 million users.

According to Ganjoo, the company has seen a 64% jump in revenue in FY22 to Rs 249 crore, from Rs 152 crore in FY21. In terms of the user base, it has recorded a 50% growth year-on-year. “Our target now is to double our numbers, both in terms of the users and revenue, in the next one year,” Ganjoo said.

The company has also roped in actor Shahid Kapoor as its brand ambassador for two years, with an aim to popularise the sport and create a robust ecosystem for poker in India.

“We will spend $12-15 million on marketing this year. It’s more towards raising awareness about poker,” Ganjoo said.

Shahid Kapoor said, “Our association isn’t only driven by the fact that we both believe in bringing a difference in our respective fields, but also by the sheer will to entertain our audiences while trying to do so. I am looking forward to helping PokerBaazi reach wider audiences and create more advocates for the sport in India.”

Ganjoo said the company wants to take poker to the sporting category level next to cricket or football.

“There are approximately 300 million mobile gamers in the country, of which 90-100 million play real money gaming. Despite being the No. 1 poker operator, we have a huge scope that is already visible,” Ganjoo said. “Now it’s up to us how do we convert those gamers who are already there and non-gamers from different segments outside of this pie, to poker.”