Agarwal had earlier served as the CEO of Nazara for seven years and was instrumental in its IPO and a majority acquisition it made in NODWIN

NODWIN is looking to IPO soon and has floated plans of raising $100 Mn ahead of the public listing in a mixed round after having demerged from Nazara last year

In recent weeks, it appointed ex-CEO Sidharth Kedia as the new chief strategy and investments officer along with appointing Modern Times Group’s EVP-Gaming Arnd Benninghoff to its board

Gaming and esports media platform NODWIN Gaming has onboarded Manish Agarwal to its board as a non-executive director in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO).

“Having seen NODWIN’s journey from its early stages to becoming a leading force in youth culture and gaming, it’s been exciting to watch its evolution. As the company now prepares for its next phase, including its path towards public markets, I look forward to contributing to building a globally relevant and institutionally strong platform,” Agarwal said in a statement.

The executive served as the CEO of Nazara Technologies from 2015-2022. During this period, the listed sports and media company acquired a 55% stake in NODWIN through a combination of cash and stock, followed by a ₹64 Cr cash infusion in 2024. However, its stake in NODWIN went below the majority mark since it opted out of an internal fundraise last year to give NODWIN more autonomy ahead of the IPO.

Agarwal was also instrumental in Nazara’s own public listing in 2021, making it the only listed mobile gaming company in the country. He is expected to use this expertise to steer NODWIN’s impending public market debut, working closely with the startup to strengthen governance and strategic oversight as it aims to scale across markets.

He cofounded physical AI startup Humyn Labs in January this year to build data infrastructure for robotic systems. He also cofounded decentralised gamer network KGeN (Kratos Gamer Network) to encourage gaming studios to migrate their games to its blockchain platform.

Ahead of the public listing, the startup is also looking to raise $100 Mn in a pre-IPO round as it looks to transition from esports into a youth media brand to differentiate itself from its one-time parent company Nazara, cofounder Akshat Rathee told Inc42 last month. Existing investors are expected to partially offload stakes via secondary transactions, liquidating around 10-15% of their holdings without any full exits.

NODWIN claims to have earned a revenue of over ₹530 Cr in the first three quarters of FY26 “while maintaining EBITDA-positive operations.” In FY25, NODWIN’s revenue stood at ₹524 Cr, moving at a CAGR of over 50% since 2018, it said. Rathee told Inc42 last month that the startup is expected to close FY26 with a revenue of ₹700 Cr, claiming to have turned its India vertical profitable.

Earlier this month, the gaming startup brought back Sidharth Kedia as the new chief strategy and investments officer. Earlier, Kedia served as NODWIN’s CEO between 2019-2023 and will now lead strategy, fundraising, and amalgamations.

Prior to that, NODWIN had appointed Modern Times Group’s EVP-Gaming Arnd Benninghoff to its board. He oversees strategic investments and portfolio growth and Modern Times Group, and is expected to spearhead the gaming startup’s pre-IPO fundraising efforts.