MPL losses up by over 160% in the last year

After it’s $100 million funding earlier this year, Mobile Premier League, or MPL as they are more popularly known, have released losses that are up by 160% as compared to last year.

Having started off their gaming product in 2018, MPL has gone on to become a household name. Be it their presence in cricket or their decision to become a major sponsor for reality show Big Boss, they have carved a big piece of the Indian gaming pie for themselves. This was evident earlier this year when they received a $945 million valuation which led to a $100 million round of funding.
The steady growth of the industry is quite evident as they have grown their revenue from ₹4.27 Cr in 2019 (FY) to ₹18.31 in 2020. A major reason for the jump was that MPL started making money off their operations, which had not been the case a year earlier when it was the interest raised from fixed deposits and current investments that came up in the revenue column.
In the latest filings by the organisation, MPL has reported that the number of ₹14.81 came about through the sale of online gaming services. The filings indicated that MPL earned its revenue through fees paid by participating players as well as fees levied by the organisation on real money games.
But in their quest to become a household name MPL’s expenses rose by a massive 168%. While MPL’s net loss for the 2019 financial year stood at ₹106.3 Cr, their losses in the 2020 financial year accounted to ₹278 Cr which has increased the company’s losses by 162%. But this is not something too shocking as their competitors, mainly Paytm Games, has also posted a 224% net loss for FY 20.
MPL’s operating costs grew by 57.42% over the last year as the company posted the figure of to ₹56.29 Cr as their operating costs. Apart from that their employee benefits increased by 69% to land at ₹57.6 Cr. But the main rise in expense came at the cost of rent, fuel, legal, advertising etc as it rose by a massive 350% with the figure reading ₹180 Cr. Their marketing and advertising alone accounted for ₹137.67 Cr in 2020.
However, this has led to MPL becoming a giant in the industry claiming to have 6 Cr users in India alone. They also claim to have added 3.5 million more in Indonesia - a country where they started operations a year ago.