Highlights
- PUBG maker Krafton is launching a ₹60 billion (~$670M) India-focused Unicorn Growth Fund with Naver and Mirae Asset.
- The Krafton fund will start in Jan 2026, targeting soonicorn startups with cheques of $10-30M.
- The move deepens Krafton's strategy beyond gaming, adding to over $200M in prior startup funding investments.
South Korean gaming company and PUBG maker Krafton is increasing its exposure to India with the launch of a new growth investment strategy targeting high-potential technology startups. The company has partnered with Naver and Mirae Asset to establish the Unicorn Growth Fund, which plans to deploy up to ₹60 billion (~$670 million USD) over four years.
The fund will be set up in Jan 2026 and begin operations with an initial corpus of more than ₹30B (~$334M). It will be managed by Mirae Asset Venture India. Krafton will invest ₹12.3B, or roughly $137M, at the first close, while Naver’s capital commitment is expected to be “broadly comparable.” Mirae Asset will also contribute capital alongside its fund management role.
The Unicorn Growth Fund will focus on “soonicorns,” or fast-scaling startups nearing unicorn valuation, with typical cheque sizes expected to range between $10M and $30M. While India will be the primary market for the Krafton fund, it will not follow strict country-allocation limits and may evaluate opportunities across Asia.
Krafton stated that investments through the fund will primarily be treated as financial positions, though engagement with portfolio companies may vary.
PUBG Maker Krafton Expands India Strategy Beyond Gaming
The new fund builds on Krafton’s existing footprint in India, where Krafton has invested more than $200M since 2021 across gaming, content, esports, and fintech.
Its portfolio includes Cashfree, NODWIN Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM, JetSynthesys, and IMM Investment. The company also launched a gaming incubator in India in 2023 and acquired a controlling stake in Nautilus Mobile earlier in 2025 for $14M.
India has been a strategically important but challenging market for PUBG maker Krafton. Its flagship title, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), was banned in 2022 before returning in 2023 following a trial approval. The game has crossed 240M downloads since launching in 2021 as a localized version of PUBG Mobile.
Krafton later cut ties with Tencent as publisher and migrated India servers to Microsoft Azure to address regulatory concerns.
With the Unicorn Growth Fund, PUBG maker Krafton is positioning itself as a long-term capital partner in India’s startup ecosystem, extending its startup funding push beyond gaming, as competition for late-stage technology investments intensifies.
