India’s youngest and fastest-growing entertainment network QYOU Media India on Thursday announced that it has signed a binding term sheet to acquire a controlling interest in Maxamtech Digital Ventures, a six-year-old India-founded company that develops technologies and games for the mobile gaming industry.

Maxamtech currently operates a variety of gaming destinations for companies such as Vodafone and Glance through its proprietary Gaming 360 platform.

The acquisition follows QYOU Media and Q India’s recent push to expand its portfolio of direct-to-consumer products into 2023.

These include recent announcements surrounding the launch of the QPLAY app and a subsequent co-marketing agreement for QPLAY to be executed during the current T20 World Cup cricket competition.

As per a press release, the mobile gaming business in India has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. KPMG has reported that there are 420 million online gamers in India, which makes it only second to China.

This trend is being driven by a growing younger population with greater disposable income combined with rapidly increasing smartphone usage.

Sales in the mobile gaming business should go beyond that $5 billion in 2025, driven primarily by the discovery and adoption of casual and free-to-play gaming, a specialty of Maxamtech’s Gaming 360 platform.

Maxamtech Digital Ventures, located in Pune India, was founded in 2017 by Xerxes Mullen and Sundeep Thus, both veterans of the Indian gaming industry.

Their respective lists of customers and partners over the years have included Disney India, Sony, Viacom18, Zee5, Ooredoo, Glance, SpiceJet, and many others.

Most recently, the company announced an important partnership with Vodafone to boost the telco’s efforts in the mobile gaming category. Both Maxamtech founders will continue to hold senior positions in the company, overseeing all technology, business development and marketing efforts.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mullen said, “We were looking for the right partner to take our business to the next level. Gaming continues to be one of the biggest opportunities in the industry India Media and Entertainment segment and we feel fully aligned with the management teams at QYOU Media and Q India on how we can truly grow our operations smartly and profitably. We couldn’t be more excited to begin this journey together.”

CEO and co-founder of QYOU Media Kurt Marvis added, “We originally met the founders of Maxamtech over a year ago. We knew right away there could be a powerful combination of their technology and gaming know-how with our ability to reach a young audience on a mass scale that has now surpassed 125 million weekly viewers. As we move towards 2023 to create greater opportunities to leverage our audience reach with new monetization and interactivity products, bringing this more directly to our business was a natural fit.”

Adding to this, Krishna Menon, COO, QYOU Media India, said, “At QYOU Media India, we aim to
continue to expand and diversify our offerings beyond providing entertainment. Acquiring the
talented team at Maxamtech Digital Ventures is another strategic step towards this goal. The
acquisition will reaffirm our commitment to delivering unique and innovative experiences to our 125
million weekly young viewers while also demonstrating our sustained emphasis on bringing
meaningful innovation to the industry.

Strengthening our capabilities with Maxamtech, we look forward to entering 2023 with greater opportunities to reach out to our audiences with new products driven by innovation and interactivity,” Menon added.

Under the terms of acquisition, QYOU Media has agreed to initially acquire an interest in the issued and outstanding shares of the Maxamtech business, giving it majority control of the company.