Krafton Doubles India Bet With $250M Push Into AI and Deeptech Beyond Gaming

Krafton doubles down on India with another $250M bet beyond gaming

Krafton, the South Korean gaming company behind titles including PUBG and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), plans to invest another $250 million in India over the next three to four years as it pushes beyond gaming into AI, robotics, and deep tech. Announced Friday, the new commitment will take Krafton's total planned investment in India to more than $500 million, including the over $250 million it had already invested in the country since 2021. The funds also come in addition to Krafton's commitment to a $670 million India-focused growth fund it unveiled with South Korean internet conglomerate Naver and investor Mirae Asset in December 2025. At the time, Krafton said it would contribute around $137 million at the fund's first close. The new $250 million pledge is separate from the growth fund, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. India has become a key market for Krafton, giving the gaming publisher access to the world's most populous country, with more than a billion internet subscribers and over 700 million smartphone users. Krafton initially built its India business around gaming, led by BGMI, a revamped and localized version of PUBG that has surpassed 260 million downloads. In recent years, the company has also used investments in Indian startups to broaden its business beyond games. Krafton's run in India has not always been smooth. The Indian government banned PUBG Mobile in 2020, along with hundreds of Chinese-linked apps, as tensions between New Delhi and Beijing escalated. Krafton stepped in after that and introduced BGMI in 2021. The company dropped Tencent Games as the game's publisher in India and moved its India servers to Microsoft's Azure cloud, changes that came as Krafton worked to address New Delhi's concerns. However, in 2022, BGMI was itself banned in India, before the federal government allowed it to return on a three-month trial basis the following year. Krafton has continued to build around the franchise since its return and plans to launch BGMI Lite in India by the end of 2026. Despite the early setbacks, Krafton continued to invest in India and has so far backed about 18 companies, including four to five gaming studios, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Its investments include Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM, and One Impression, among others. The new investment commitment comes after Krafton chairman Byung Gyu Chang met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi earlier on Friday. The two discussed opportunities for India and South Korea to work more closely across gaming, technology, and other emerging sectors, Krafton said. Krafton has also been building out its local operations. Last year, it acquired Pune-based Nautilus Mobile, the studio behind the Real Cricket franchise. The company also recently launched KIGI Academy, an industry-academia program aimed at training talent in game development and digital creation.

KRAFTON To Invest $250 Mn In Indian AI & Deeptech Startups

Doubling down on India, South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON plans to invest an additional $250 Mn (₹3,300 Cr) in Indian startups over the next three to four years. Beyond gaming, KRAFTON said that the new corpus will expand its focus to emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, deeptech, among others. This is in addition to the $250 Mn that the gaming giant has already invested in the country, taking its total planned investment in India to $500 Mn (₹6,600 Cr). Separately, KRAFTON, in partnership with Mirae Asset Global Investments and NAVER, had also launched a $670 Mn (₹6,000 Cr) venture fund to back Indian startups last year. The announcement came as KRAFTON chairman Byung Gyu Chang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. In a statement, the company said that Chang, during the meeting, reaffirmed KRAFTON's commitment to India and its rapidly growing gaming, technology and digital entertainment ecosystem. The two also discussed opportunities for India and the Republic of Korea to work closely in areas of gaming, innovation and emerging technologies. "... Through our investments, skill-development initiatives and focus on emerging technologies, we look forward to working alongside India's growing community of creators, developers and entrepreneurs to build globally relevant experiences and technologies," added Chang. The BGMI maker has been making investments in India since March 2021. Its India portfolio counts the likes of names such as esports startup NODWIN, streaming platform Loco and self-publishing platform Pratilipi. It also acquired a controlling 75% stake in Pune-based gaming studio Nautilus Mobile last year. Besides investments, India is also a key market for KRAFTON given the country's high smartphone penetration and ease of access to digital payments, which enable micro transactions. The South Korean gaming giant's flagship product is Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), formerly known as PUBG, which has surpassed 260 Mn downloads in the country. KRAFTON is expanding its investment focus in India as the ban on real-money gaming (RMG) last year suffered a big blow to the local ecosystem. Many big names have either crumbled since then or pivoted to new business models, while early stage funding activity has remained tepid for the sector. As a result, KRAFTON likely sees deeptech and AI as the next big frontier for its investments in India. And it is not without reason. Buoyed by policy clarity, government sops, capital inflows, growing demand and brewing investor confidence, Indian AI startups raised $676 Mn during the first six months of 2026. As per Inc42 data, India's AI economy is projected to become a $126 Bn opportunity by 2030.