Digital gaming startup MPL enters Indonesia after raising Series A round

Digital gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL) said on Thursday it has forayed into the Southeast Asia market with the launch of its operations in Indonesia, just a week after securing a Series A cheque.

“Mobile gaming has incredible potential in Indonesia and a lot of room to grow. MPL’s value proposition of providing a platform for users to compete with each other across a variety of games is unique and pioneering and will contribute positively to the growing local eSports industry,” said Joe Wadakethalakal, chief executive officer for Indonesia at MPL.

The company said Southeast Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world for the gaming industry. “Increasing internet penetration and rising disposable income have given rise to the rapid development of mobile games,” it added.

Operated by Galactus Funware Technology Pvt. Ltd, MPL runs a gaming platform where users compete in live tournaments for skill-based mobile games to win money.

The platform allows users to choose a game of their choice such as Sudoku and Crosswords and then pick a tournament which suits their wallet. Each tournament runs for a certain duration and has a specific number of players. Once tournament results are announced, winners can cash out using mobile wallets or bank transfer.

MPL is one of the top ranking apps across categories on the Google Play store with more than 25 million installs.

“The timing couldn’t have been better for us to expand our platform to Indonesia… we will continue to focus on creating platform experience based on the unique preferences of gamers in Indonesia,” said Sai Srinivas Kiran G, co-founder and group CEO at MPL.

MPL’s foray into Indonesia comes at an interesting time as eSports are now part of the Southeast Asian Games 2019 and upcoming Asian Games 2022.

MPL was founded last year by Kiran and Shubham Malhotra. The duo had earlier launched Creo, the maker of HDMI media streaming device Teewe.

The company, last month, raised  $35.5 million in its Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, Times Internet and GoVentures, the venture capital arm of Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek.

Prior to this, it raised $5 million from Sequoia in November last year.