Let's Game Now raises ₹30 crore for ISGL, with no valuation disclosed

The round and its backers

Let's Game Now raised the money in a round led by Mahindra, the Mahindra Group chairman, and Bestvantage Investments, with an undisclosed UAE-based family office also participating. The company gave no valuation, equity figure or per-investor amount.

Mahindra announced the investment himself in a post on X on 28 October. He wrote that he was excited about backing another league, with the action on a screen rather than a mat. He helped launch the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014 and has backed the Global Chess League. The pitch is franchised teams, a broadcast product and a season that recurs instead of a tournament that ends. For fans, that means eight city teams and five games rather than a one-off event. For sponsors, it means a property selling recurring seasons. What remains unknown is the valuation, the equity sold and the launch timeline.

Eight teams form the league, most borrowed from Indian sport.

The list runs Mumbai City FC, FC Goa, Chennaiyin FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Inter Kashi, Puneri Paltan, Bangalore Bhargavas and Andhra Agneyas. Five are Indian Super League football clubs, and Puneri Paltan plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The mix borrows familiarity from Indian sport while building a gaming audience around it, according to the Economic Times report. The league lists five games: chess, EA Sports FC 26, Call of Duty: Mobile, FAU-G and Cricket 26. City-based qualifiers are meant to work as a ladder from local competition into the main league. That structure separates a franchise property from a series of invitational events.

The earlier 2025 edition was smaller: three Indian Super League clubs, Valorant and chess, and a ₹1 crore prize pool announced in December 2024. Chennaiyin FC has since signed ISGL as its front-of-shirt principal sponsor for the Indian Super League 2026 season. The league has no published start date. Its branding will be on a football shirt first.

The commercial test

India's gaming market is valued at nearly $3.8 billion and is projected to reach $9.2 billion by FY29, with an estimated 59.1 crore gamers, according to Inc42. That is the audience the league is selling to sponsors.

The backdrop matters. The government banned real money gaming in 2025, a revenue stream the industry had leaned on, and gaming startups have since pushed into esports, tournaments and brand-led gaming. Let's Game Now claims a community of more than 1.4 million members and more than 2,000 events organised across 18 countries. It also claims over 30 clients and total reach of more than 50 million viewers. Those are company figures, not audited ones.

What is missing is the operating detail. Let's Game Now has not announced a detailed launch timeline, a franchise structure, expected revenue or a monetisation strategy for ISGL. Whalesbook noted that the league will need recurring sponsorship revenue and financially stable franchise owners to hold together. Those gaps leave the commercial case open.

Monetising the audience is the harder half. Whalesbook reported that advertising, sponsorships and merchandise remain difficult revenue lines for Indian platforms, and that gaming startups carry high user acquisition and server costs. Competitive gaming also shifts as game titles rise and fall, which makes multi-year sponsor commitments harder to sell. That makes the first full season a test of sponsorship demand and cost control.

What to watch next

Let's Game Now was founded in 2018 by Santanu Basu, who co-founded ISGL with Gautam Badalia. Basu's own record is part of the pitch: Mahindra described him as one of India's pioneering professional esports players, who competed internationally in FIFA and finished third at an international tournament. Badalia is a former chief executive of Route Mobile. Proximus later acquired Route Mobile.

Mahindra's public framing went beyond the chequebook. He wrote on X that building Pro Kabaddi and the Global Chess League taught him that talent alone is not enough. Champions need an ecosystem of coaching, leagues and serious competition, he added. He also addressed the screen-time objection. He argued that competitive esports demands strategy, reflexes, teamwork and discipline, and creates roles for coaches, analysts, creators and producers.

The near-term milestones are commercial, not competitive. The league needs recurring sponsorship revenue and franchise owners who can absorb costs across seasons.

The numbers in context

₹30 crore buys development capital, not a valuation. Because no valuation or equity stake was disclosed, the price investors paid for their share of the league is unknown.

Eight teams are planned, five of them carrying Indian Super League club names. The league would sit on top of the company's existing business: online tournaments, offline events and broadcasts across South Asia and Southeast Asia. The 2025 edition ran on a ₹1 crore prize pool, so the new raise is 30 times that figure. The money is for building the league, not for prizes. Whether the ratio holds in the other direction, as prize money and team costs rise, is the question the first full season will answer.