Nazara Technologies has completed its majority stake acquisition of 51 per cent in Paper Boat Apps by issuing Nazara shares worth Rs. 43 Cr. as part of its final tranche of the transaction. Paper Boat Apps are developers of the app Kiddopia catering to young children in the age bracket of two to seven years old.
This is Nazara’s second transaction in the year 2020 after undertaking a majority stake-holding in fantasy platform, Halaplay Technologies last month. This transaction is part of the Rs. 83 Cr. stake deal to acquire majority in Paper Boat Apps valuing the company in excess of Rs. 150 Cr.
Since the initial funding, Kiddopia has seen over 300 per cent growth in revenues and is now witnessing an annualised revenue run rate of over Rs. 175 cr.
Kiddopia was launched in 2017 by husband-wife duo, Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka. The app became an instant hit and has reached the #1 rank in the Kids category on the US App Store. The app has been downloaded by more than five million parents around the world and currently has over 300,000 active subscribers.
On the growth trajectory, Kiddopia co-founder and CEO Anupam Dhanuka says, “This investment from Nazara has helped us focus on product enhancement and marketing, thereby leading to a 3X growth in subscriber base.”
He further adds “We have just finished our best month and we expect our topline to grow 2X in annual revenues by March 2021.”
Nazara is also the largest free to play kids games publisher in India with 20 million monthly active kids playing and over 180 million downloads on Google Play and App store. With this move to acquire Kiddopia, Nazara further strengthens their position in the kid’s edutainment vertical.
Nazara Technologies founder and MD Nitish Mittersain says, “Gamified edtech is the only way to deliver high quality learning to young kids on digital devices. Kiddopia is a perfect example of this overlap between gaming and learning and their popularity amongst parents and kids speaks for itself. Nazara is very happy to add Kiddopia to our portfolio catering to over 100 million monthly active users on our network”
Nazara’s network comprises of several well-known franchises and market leading brands including the popular World Cricket Championship in cricket gaming, Halaplay in fantasy sports, Nodwin Gaming in Esports and now Kiddopia in the Kids category.