Krafton, the South Korean gaming company behind hit titles like PUBG and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), is launching a growth investment fund focused on India, strengthening its push into the world’s largest internet user base.
Called Unicorn Growth Fund, the investment vehicle is a partnership between Krafton and South Korean internet group Naver and investor Mirae Asset. It aims to raise up to ₹60 billion (about $669.3 million) in four years, Krafton confirmed to TechCrunch.
The fund, which will be managed by Mirae Asset Venture India, is expected to be launched in January and start operating with an initial size of over ₹30 billion (about $334.6 million). Krafton will contribute ₹12.3 billion (about $137.2 million) in the first closing, the company said.
Naver’s capital commitment is expected to be “broadly comparable” to Krafton’s $137 million investment, a Krafton spokesperson told TechCrunch. The fund will not operate with rigid country allocation limits, and typical investment sizes are expected to be between $10 million and $30 million, the spokesperson said.
Krafton said investments through the new fund will be seen primarily as financial positions rather than strategic bets, although the level of engagement with portfolio companies may vary depending on the opportunities and long-term potential of each business.
To date, Krafton has invested more than $200 million in India, supporting companies in the gaming, content and fintech spaces. Recent investments include fintech Cashfree and venture fund IMM Investment, alongside earlier bets on gaming and content platforms such as Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi and Kuku FM. The company also launched a gaming incubator in India in 2023 and acquired a controlling stake in Indian gaming studio Nautilus Mobile for $14 million earlier this year.
Krafton’s expansion into India was not without setbacks. New Delhi banned BGMI, the company’s flagship local title, in 2022 before allowing it to return in 2023 after a three-month trial approval. Krafton subsequently announced an investment commitment of $150 million in the country.
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BGMI, which has surpassed 240 million downloads, was released in 2021 as a revamped, localized version of PUBG Mobile, another popular title that was banned by the Indian government in mid-2020 due to national security concerns. Since then, Krafton has made a series of operational changes in the country — including severing ties with Tencent as its publisher and relocating its Indian servers to the Microsoft Azure cloud — to address regulatory concerns.
With the new fund, Krafton seeks to expand its India strategy beyond gaming, channeling capital into a broader set of tech startups as it seeks to build a long-term presence in one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital markets.
