WinZO Partners with ISB Hyderabad for Gaming Talent Mentorship Programme

Hyderabad: WinZO, India's largest social gaming and interactive entertainment platform, has launched its flagship talent mentorship programme, Battle of Super Scholars (BOSS) in partnership with Indian School of Business (ISB), India's top management institute in Hyderabad. The initiative aims to mentor the nation’s brightest minds, empowering them to drive India’s leadership in tech innovation, boost IP export-led growth of the sector, and firmly place India among the top global gaming markets.

The global online gaming market has surpassed $300 billion, with a user base exceeding 3.3 billion. India, with approximately 600 million users, constitutes 20 per cent of this user base and accounts for 17 per cent of global gaming app downloads. However, India's share of the global market remains disproportionately low. In closing the gap between its market share with its user base, India could potentially capture a $60 billion opportunity by 2034. Currently, India’s 1400 gaming companies using sophisticated technologies like AI, blockchain and VR have generated over a lakh skilled jobs and have increased the sector’s market size to $3 billion. Through the BOSS programme, WinZO aims to inspire young product and tech talent to pursue entrepreneurship in gaming and solve the frontier challenges facing the sector. In the process, India’s gaming sector can become a $60 billion opportunity and increase employment by 20 times, resulting in creation of over 2 million jobs. BOSS is cultivating and investing in India’s talent as the country’s best-in-class digital infrastructure and rich stories, combined with its talented workforce, have the potential to make India the leading global gaming market by revenue share. The Prime Minister also highlighted India’s heritage, skilled workforce, and digital infrastructure as a means to make India the leading global gaming market in his 78th Independence Day address.

WinZO’s philosophy has always been to democratise entrepreneurship in India. The company has also collaborated with over 100 game developers, enabling them to reach 200 million users, primarily non-English speakers who access the platform in over 14 languages, and to publish their games for international markets, with WinZO’s recent expansion to Brazil. The company recently entered into a strategic partnership with Fundação Getulio Vargas Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (FGV EAESP), Brazil's premier educational institution, for research projects and to recruit local talent for the rapid expansion of India’s gaming innovation in the LATAM market. It has also conducted two editions of Bharat Tech Triumph to pick the best gaming innovators for showcase and expansion in global markets on prestigious forums like Game Developer Conference (GDC), in San Francisco and Gamescom in LATAM.

“At WinZO, we envision a future where India creates a globally competitive consumer tech company and exports Indian intellectual property to the international market. We believe that skilled talent capable of solving real-world challenges is essential for the growth of India’s technology ecosystem to go global. The concept of WinZO BOSS was born from this belief. Through this platform, we aim to tap into and invest in the top talent from India’s premier institutes early on, equipping them to tackle business challenges head-on. We are confident that these young minds will bring forward innovative ideas that will form the foundation of India’s burgeoning sectors,” said Paavan Nanda, Co-founder, WinZO. “Our commitment to showcasing Indian entrepreneurship, both domestically and globally, remains steadfast. India has all the right ingredients to become a global tech powerhouse. The students we see now will revolutionise the gaming industry, shaping its future not just in India, but also across the globe,” he added.

“We're incredibly thankful to WinZO for providing us with this real-world experience of building in the gaming space. Our mentors helped us think outside the box, pushing us to delve deeper into the problem and offer innovative solutions. This drive led us to quickly develop a product prototype that serves as a strong proxy for a real app,” said Sanket Gaggar and Snehanshu Mishra, winners of the programme.

The BOSS programme saw participation from about 2,000 students in teams of two, providing them with mentorship from gaming industry experts. The programme’s projects focused on innovating traditional gaming formats, exploring new monetisation models in global gaming, and disrupting the global market through expansion of Indian companies. Participants either developed gaming products for the international market or conducted comprehensive market entry studies for WinZO's strategic expansion, thus strengthening India’s gaming industry exports. Winners received a scholarship worth Rs 50 lakh and an option to join WinZO to deepen their interest and expertise in gaming. This initiative underscores WinZO's commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship among India’s brightest minds, aiming to build consumer tech products that are "Made in India, for the World."

WinZO continues to work closely with academic institutions to develop India’s talent for solving global tech challenges and conducting research in areas of strategic importance. The company has previously partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D), Delhi Technological University (DTU), Netaji Subhash University of Technology (NSUT), and IIIT-D to develop open-source technology to protect internet users against cyber actors.