Shares of Nazara Technologies rose more than 2% on May 19, as Nodwin Gaming, a subsidiary of the online gaming company, raised $28 million in its latest funding round from new and existing investors.

At 9:18 am, the company was trading at Rs 593.85, up 2.24%.

Regionally, the gaming and sports media company will be eyeing Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. “Our focus will be on the Middle East. We are building for the world, but outside of India,” said Akshat Rathee, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Nodwin Gaming. He added that the company will invest in intellectual property, people and capabilities.

“We will be looking at internal transfers, but also new positions that we will be hiring nationally and internationally. Regarding acquisitions, we are looking at anything that is core to Nodwin. Any IP in gaming and sports running for a couple of years has been a great partner for us. Any company that has a profitable business in a country, we would love to acquire that company,” Rathee added.

The latest funding round saw participation from existing investors including Nazara, Krafton and JetSynthesys, with new investors including Sony Group Corporation and Innopark.

Brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher has said that Nazara Technologies has a cash balance of Rs 6.2 billion which can be used as growth capital for inorganic expansion. While ICICI Securities also noted that cash balances could be used to scale up through acquisitions of real money games once regulations are clarified. Additionally, online gaming companies can benefit from cheap acquisition opportunities in the current liquidity situation.

“If these triggers play out, we will see a bullish valuation of Rs 800 (March 24),” said ICICI Securities.