TMT Law Practice advises WinZo on USD 12 Million Buyback from Hike

The increasingly competitive Real Money Gaming Industry in India - among the fastest-growing globally - has witnessed a fair number of deals and investment activity, especially over the last year.

The sector has received more than its (un)fair share of attention from allegedly "public-spirited" citizens and the state legislatures. This has often led to "paternalistic" legislation seeking to ban the seeming menace of gam(bl)ing.

In this scenario, Hike Global, which had invested a total of USD 5 Million, along with Kalaari Capital in 2019, in the leading vernacular online gaming platform named WinZo, has exited the company a 4X return on its investment. Paavan Nanda and Saumya Rathore - promoted WinZo is available in 12 regional languages and has a fantasy gaming platform for cricket, football, kabaddi, a 30 million and growing user base growth of 10 times in the last year. The development syncs with Hike shutting down its primary messaging business earlier this year and launching a similar gaming app called Rush.

Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore co-founded WinZO. Paavan is an alumnus of IIM-Calcutta, was also a co-founder of budget hotel room aggregator ZO Rooms. Saumya is an alumnus of the University of Manchester, and in his previous stints, he worked with ZO Rooms and the Times Network.

"The firm has been associated with Paavan and Saumya for the last 3 years, and the relationship has grown from our initial representation of Zostel Hospitality against OYO where Paavan was a co-founder; to advising on the operational regulatory and legal compliances of WinZo; to representing WinZo in such important milestones in its growth." says Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner,

The team led by Abhishek Malhotra and Bagmisikha Puhan, Associate Partner, acted as company counsel to Tictok Skill Games Private Limited (WinZo), advising on the transaction where the company bought back the entire stake of Hike Global for USD 12 Million. Khaitan & Co. acted for the other shareholders, and J. Sagar Associates represented Hike Global. In September 2020, the firm had also represented WinZo in the Series B investment round, where the company raised USD 18 Million.

"With the recent award in the OYO matter, we have once again demonstrated that personal time and attention by senior partners with a committed team, is increasingly the reason that not only Start-Ups, but some of the Fortune 500 companies are engaging with boutique firms such as ours to seek advice and specialized services. Here's wishing WinZo even greater success in the years to come." adds Abhishek.

TMT Law Practice, ever since its establishment in 2008, headquartered in New Delhi, with offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai, has the subject matter expertise across all three sectors of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications. Its ability to deliver the complete suite of high-quality corporate advisory, dispute resolution, regulatory and policy services in the TMT sectors is unique.

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( With inputs from ANI )