WinZO Sports, an e-sports and fantasy arm of social gaming company WinZO, has entered into a long-term partnership as the principal sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders. Apart from featuring in WinZO Sports’ marketing campaign, the Knight Riders will soon be seen interacting with WinZO Sports’ users across social media platforms. In December 2021, the company has partnered with Future Group-owned, Bengal Warriors and, Adani Group’s Gujarat Giants for the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League’s (PKL) Season 8.
BCCI guidelines which were recently circulated to the franchisees prohibit engaging with real money gaming companies except for fantasy sports. KKR earlier had skill gaming company MPL as principal sponsor till 2023. It is not clear if MPL exited the sponsorship due to the new IPL rule.
The immensely popular war cry of KKR, ‘Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo,’ completely encapsulates the core values endorsed by WinZO Sports of competing with the right spirit, never giving up, and delivering winning experiences, the company said in a press release. The shared love towards the spirit of sportsmanship and the game makes this association a natural medium through which WinZO Sports can connect with millions of people spread across continents.
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As a brand that intends to cement India’s position as a ‘Gaming Powerhouse,’ WinZO Sports, has already taken giant steps by garnering a staggering 75+ Million users across products, and this partnership is bound to act as a catalyst as the Indian Gaming Giant embarks on this unprecedented journey to the top.
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With the biggest cricket extravaganza around the corner, WinZO Sports’ association with KKR will help connect gaming enthusiasts across the globe and will go a long way in making WinZO Sports a trustworthy entertainment platform and reach millions of fans and users.
Speaking about this momentous partnership, Co-founder of WinZO, Saumya Singh, said, “KKR boasts of an ideal mix of experienced and budding stars in the world of cricket, each of whom comes with a mammoth and loyal fanbase of his own, and the team will now be led by one of most promising cricketers produced by the country in the recent past. In that sense, this partnership will prove our trump card, considering the sheer number of fans & enthusiasts this lets us connect with. We’re highly excited and are looking forward to setting new milestones during the course of the next three years with team KKR.”
Speaking about the partnership, Venky Mysore, CEO & MD, Kolkata Knight Riders, said, “We are delighted to welcome WinZO Sports to the KKR family as our principal sponsor. The Knight Riders brand has established itself as the leading global brand in T20 cricket and through this partnership aims to bring the magic of cricket closer to all gaming fans. KKR has created the right mix of cricket and entertainment, India’s two most loved domains and the addition of online gaming, which has lately evolved as one of the most preferred forms of entertainment, is only going to make it bigger”.
Having raised $65 million in a Series C funding round in September 2021, the gaming company is on a partnership spree. Earlier, WinZO announced a partnership with Asphalt developer Gameloft. The gaming company also partnered with Kalaari Capital to launch an investment initiative Gaming Lab to encourage and support the gaming ecosystem in the country. The Gaming Lab will invest up to $1 million in each of the investee companies across all forms of interactive apps in India. In September 2021, the company launched a standalone game developer fund with a corpus of $20 million.