The grind never ends: Nazara’s Manish Agarwal

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Editor's note: Just shy of a year ago, Nazara Technologies went public with a stellar stock market debut.  Unlike larger tech companies such as Paytm and Zomato, whose stocks have struggled, or Nykaa, whose quarterly performance has disappointed some investors, Mumbai-based Nazara has gone steady. Revenue continues to grow, while profits remain about the same. For those unfamiliar with Nazara, the company is actually a web of gaming companies, one which has been built on the back of mergers and acquisitions over the years. It runs a clutch of verticals operating in different segments within the larger gaming sector—esports, gamified learning (educational games for children), casual gaming, rummy and fantasy sport. Esports and gamified learning dominate, accounting for 84% of revenue. This past year has probably been its most important—new investments in different companies, a new vertical in the form of real-money gaming and a planned expansion to the Middle East.  The 20-year-old company’s initial public offering was seen as a litmus test for the entire gaming industry. Twelve months on, it seems to have settled comfortably into its new reality as …