NAZARA TECHNLOGIES
NODWIN Gaming acquires gaming adjacent IPs and gaming talent business from OML Entertainment for INR 73 Crores
NODWIN Gaming, South Asia’s leading esports company, and an independent subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Limited (BSE: 543280) (NSE: NAZARA), has acquired the Gaming and adjacent IP business of OML Entertainment. NODWIN Gaming has agreed to a consideration of INR 73 crores as part of an agreement concluded between NODWIN Gaming and OML Entertainment. The transaction will provide partial liquidity to OML Entertainment shareholders, including CA Media. Ajay Nair, MD of OML Entertainment, will join the NODWIN Gaming board as part of this transaction and will work with Akshat Rathee, MD of NODWIN Gaming and the NODWIN Gaming management team to ensure smooth integration of the OML IPs with NODWIN Gaming and help with growing NODWIN Gaming’s business.
This acquisition taps into a growing synergy between the two companies. While NODWIN Gaming is known for its esports and gaming expertise. OML Entertainment is known for managing some of India’s biggest gaming & entertainment creators such as Tanmay Bhat, Samay Raina, Suhani Shah, etc. and for owning and executing storied IPs such as the BACARDÍ NH7 Weekender (described by The Guardian as "India's answer to Glastonbury”), wellattended comedy touring properties such as LOLstars and Headliners and India's biggest hiphop league – Breezer Vivid Shuffle. OML Entertainment also works with some of the biggest brands in India to produce well known properties such as the Levi's Music Week and the hugely successful YouTube FanFest
Today’s youth demand an increasingly diverse and engaging experience as the lines between gaming, esports, comedy and music become blurred, and gaming becomes more mainstream. This transaction allows NODWIN Gaming to massify gaming and esports by tapping into emerging synergies in gaming entertainment that a 14–30-year-old is looking for. It enables the firm to build IPs that are relevant to fans and are more brand centric. The OML Entertainment team transferring to NODWIN Gaming as part of the transaction not only has proven capabilities in building world-class live experiences, but also will significantly enhance the multiple esports IPs that NODWIN Gaming organizes through the year including Dreamhack and India Premiership.
Akshat Rathee, Managing Director, NODWIN Gaming says “NODWIN Gaming strongly believes that continuous growth in the IP portfolio is central to building a vibrant ecosystem of fans, talent, broadcasters and brands. This has been the essence of NODWIN Gaming since the early days of creating The India premiership or Dew Arena. The addition of some of the largest IPs in India like NH7 weekender is going to accelerate the massification of esports and gaming entertainment across the spectrum of fans and brands. The multi-faceted talent that joins us cuts across gaming and pop culture and lays the perfect foundation for NODWIN Gaming to create more IPs. The proven capability of the brilliant team that joins us from OML Entertainment will further ensure that we can execute and monetise our IPs.”
Ajay Nair, Managing Director, OML Entertainment, added, “We believe in the convergence of different pop culture genres and have seen that this has already happened across several platforms and IPs. It makes a lot of sense to consolidate the strengths that OML Entertainment and NODWIN Gaming have in the live IPs and gaming spaces. Over the past years, our experience working with NODWIN Gaming has been very fruitful and we are confident that our live IPs and the teams that execute them have found a good home at NODWIN Gaming. OML Entertainment will continue to focus on building its OTT content production, talent management and branded content businesses. I look forward to working with Akshat and the NODWIN Gaming team to deliver on the true potential of this partnership.”
The total revenue of the acquired business of OML Entertainment during FY20 (pre-COVID) was INR 91 crore with EBITDA of ~10%. OML Entertainment will continue to consolidate its non-gaming creator-driven content and talent management businesses as it scales its OTT offerings and branded content marketing suite of services that currently works with over 700 creators across the world. This business had clocked revenues of INR 170 Cr in FY 2020 and has grown tremendously ever since.
Zensar recognized as a Disruptor in Avasant’ s Digital Talent Capability 2021 RadarView™report
Zensar Technologies, a leading experience engineering and technology solutions company, announced it has been recognized as a Disruptor in Avasant' s Digital Talent Capability 2021 RadarView™ report. The report seeks to evaluate service providers' digital talent capabilities spanning technologies and domains and the talent management process for which Zensar has been recognized.
Ajay S. Bhutoria, CEO and Managing Director, Zensar, commented, "It is a matter of great pride for us to be recognized for the first time as a Disruptor in this report. We are focused on building multi-disciplinary teams with skills in experience engineering and other emerging technologies. Our clients are looking for a combination of strategic and operational expertise driven by digital skills to become future-ready. Talent is our key approach to bringing velocity to our clients. This begins with the right set of skills."
"As businesses accelerate digitalization and adopt hybrid work models, talent is recognized as a key enabler of transformation. Addressing the talent gap is becoming an enterprise priority. Zensar has established a robust strategy focused on internal reskilling and modern delivery execution. Zensar's Digital Academy, facilitated by its ZenLearn digital learning platform, helps employees develop digital competencies. The academy's High Velocity Engineering (HiVE) initiative focuses on advancing talent and promoting new execution models like pods and squads. This, coupled with other strategic talent and skilling initiatives, has helped Zensar build a strong pipeline of digital talent," said Shwetank Saini, Research Leader at Avasant.
"At Zensar, our efforts are geared towards creating the next generation of talent and skills so our clients can be assured of working with in-demand skill sets. Being recognized in this report for our high velocity-driven investment in digital skills underscores our initiatives. We look forward to developing our talent today for the business needs of tomorrow," said Vivek Ranjan, CHRO, Zensar.
Zensar's approach to the future workplace is designed around its Foundation Services line, wherein it continues to develop cloud, agile, and DevOps engineering (CLADe) skills, enabling POD-based delivery through squads that focus on a platform-based approach, modern execution, a product engineering approach, and new talent models.
The report mentions Zensar's well-defined strategy for talent transformation through its Digital Academy and TechTonic initiatives. These are supported by its in-house learning platform, ZenLearn, and third-party tools such as SuccessFactors and Skillsoft. It also utilizes digital assessment tools such as HackerRank, Wheebox, EmployDX, and Codility.
Wipro Announces Co-innovation Space with Google Cloud
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced the launch of the Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena in Bangalore, India.
This cloud collaboration space will provide in-house technical expertise, ensure seamless cloud adoption, and accelerate innovation to drive business transformation for customers. By combining the expertise and resources of Wipro FullStride Cloud Services and Google Cloud, this jointly developed innovation center will offer a unique combination of people, processes, and platforms that will collectively create a futuristic experience for customers globally. This state-of-the-art arena will showcase the talent, tools and best practices required to develop and deploy applications on Google Cloud.
Jason Eichenholz, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Ecosystems & Partnerships, Wipro Limited said, “We are excited to strengthen our partnership with Google Cloud, and look forward to leveraging the Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena to increase cloud capabilities, build solutions across industries, and help our customers simplify their processes and workflows. This new Innovation Arena is the latest example of Wipro’s continued commitment to providing customers with world-class resources and support, and a vision for their cloud future.”
“Innovation and business differentiation are key drivers of cloud adoption, which is why innovation labs where customers can brainstorm, design, and pilot innovation use cases with the help of industry experts have become increasingly important,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Partner Ecosystem, Google Cloud. “We are pleased to be furthering our partnership with Wipro to provide our customers with the resources they need to take their cloud journey to the next level.”