Sachin Tendulkar invests $2 million in JetSynthesys

The former India cricketer sees it as a logical culmination of his relationship with the Pune-based company with which he already has a joint venture, 100MB. The new partnership will go a long way in exploring the nascent gaming industry in India

By Rajiv Singh Forbes India Staff

Published: Jul 29, 2021 05:00:00 PM IST

Updated: Jul 29, 2021 05:26:04 PM IST

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Sachin Tendulkar with Rajan Navani, vice chairman and managing director of JetSynthesys

Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has made an equity investment of $2 million in JetSynthesys, a digital entertainment, gaming and technology company. The latest investment further strengthens Tendulkar’s relationship with Adar Poonawalla and Kris Gopalakrishnan-backed venture with which the Master Blaster already has a joint venture, 100MB, and immersive cricket games— Sachin Saga Cricket Champions and Sachin Saga VR.

For Rajan Navani, vice chairman and managing director of JetSynthesys, a deepening partnership with the Little Master will go a long way in exploring and expanding the nascent gaming industry in India, which is still grossly under-penetrated. For India, the gaming market is a sub-billion segment in a massive $170 billion global industry. “There is tremendous growth potential,” says Navani, adding that his company has had a long-standing relationship with the maestro over the last five years which spans a flourishing joint venture. With Tendulkar, he adds, the company has managed to develop games which will help it cement its position as a skill-based cricket game developer. “In fact, Sachin Saga Cricket Champions has doubled its daily user base in the past 12 months,” he claims.

For Tendulkar, the latest investment is a logical culmination of his relationship with JetSynthesys. “My association with JetSynthesys goes back to almost five years now,” he says in a media release. The journey started with Sachin Saga Cricket Champions, which got strengthened with a unique virtual reality cricket experience. “It is one of the most popular games in its category with over 20 million downloads,” he adds. The next product was 100MB, a first-of-its-kind digital destination for all things cricket. When this association began, the former India captain underlined, the aim was to provide an authentic gaming experience for cricket lovers across the globe. “Now I am briefed that the team is looking to diversify that purview to include more cross category digital products and platforms,” he adds.

Navani is bullish about the gaming prospectus in India. As gaming becomes more popular across audience groups, he reckons, many hitherto non-gamers will start gaming. “Casual gamers will progress to the mid-core and core segment,” he predicts. More people are also turning to interactive games as a form of entertainment and last year, the World Health Organization declared games to be an important part of social interaction. “With this investment, we wish to further bolster our gaming arm,” he says.

Pune-headquartered JetSynthesys spans three verticals—gaming, digital entertainment and interest-based social community platforms—and leverages advanced capabilities in artificial intelligence and machine learning to grow the digital ecosystem in the country. One of the earliest entrants in the e-sports industry, JetSynthesys has a 50 percent stake in India’s largest e-sports company Nodwin Gaming. Apart from cricket and e-sports, the company has also developed WWE Racing Showdown, a high-octane vehicular combat game, in partnership with WWE.