Nazara expands into preschool edutainment with a ₹83.5 crore acquisition!

Nazara Technologies has invested ₹83.5 crore in kids subscription company Paper Boat Apps. The company has acquired a majority stake of 51% at a pre-money valuation of ₹154 crore. Paper Boat Apps is the creator and publisher of Kiddopia, a subscription-based preschool edutainment app. This transaction is subject to shareholders approval and customary closing conditions including any other regulatory approvals.

Nazara is the largest free to play kids games publisher in India with over 20 million monthly active kids playing Nazara’s games on Google Play and App store. Nazara has presence in 64 countries across Africa, Middle East and South East Asia in addition to the Indian subcontinent. Nazara has taken license mobile gaming rights of the most popular Indian IP characters like Chhota Bheem, Motu Patlu, Mighty Raju, Veer the Robot, Eeena Mina Deeka, Shikari Shambhu and global IP’s like Oggy the Cockroach, Shin Chan and many more.

“The leadership at the two companies have very similar DNA and our goals are well aligned. This investment will help us grow our team, strengthen our market share in the US and expand to other high value markets such as Latin America, Europe and Japan. We also plan to leverage Nazara’s existing network of users to quickly grow in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East,” Paper Boat Apps Co-Founder & CEO Anupam Dhanuka.

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Nazara Technologies Founder and MD Nitish Mittersain added, “Kiddopia addresses the concern where young children are found to consume digital content through their parent’s devices. Kiddopia offers a positive alternative while bringing high quality, curated educational content packaged within an entertaining framework that keeps both kids healthy and parents happy. Kiddopia will be leveraged to over 100 million users through the Nazara network.”

Kiddopia offers a wide array of interactive games and activities that foster cognitive development, self-expression and also social-emotional learning. Till date the app has been downloaded by more than 2.5 million parents around the world and has over 100,000 active subscribers. The company has grown five-fold in the last 2 years and received immense recognition, awards and fame. Kiddopia has been awarded the Tilly-Wig Brain Child Award, Parents Choice Award, the National Parenting Product Award and many more. Kiddopia is completely ad-free and adheres to the highest standards of privacy and kid’s safety.

Paper Boat Apps was founded in 2013 by husband-wife duo, Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka as a boot-strapped startup to create world class edutainment apps for preschool kids. In July 2017, Paper Boat Apps launched their flagship app, Kiddopia. The app became an instant hit and reached the #1 rank in the Kids category on the US App Store.

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