Ampverse is itself building on already significant success. It was founded in 2019 and owns 11 professional esports teams across Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and India. In 2020, it purchased an esports team in the Thai second division called Bacon Time, who after one year with Ampverse, won the Pro League, rose from 1 million to 10 million followers and earned $1.5m in revenue. Ampverse is aiming to make 7Sea one of India's leading teams within 18 months.     "It's quite like the music industry," Baillie said, who was previously head of digital at Universal Music Group and has worked with the likes of Justin Bieber and Rihanna.  Baille describes India as "the most exciting, high growth market in the world" for esports. It is currently one of the top five mobile game markets globally, with a 13% share of global game sessions. There are an estimated 430 million recreational gamers in India, with the average spending 3.6 hours per week watching tournaments. Revenue is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 36% over the next three years.                                                     A report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMI) published in October found that digital games as mobile app downloads grew by 50% and user engagement went up by 20% during the pandemic, in part because many alternative forms of entertainment stopped during lockdowns.  "India's market is in an early stage, relative to the other more mature markets in Southeast Asia-and it's going through  skyrocketing growth," says Baillie. "The scale of viewership is huge. Training matches- that is, not even professional matches-are attracting 100,000 concurrent viewers. In the next six to twelve months, it's going to completely explode."  "Esports is a new sport, it's a new entertainment form and a new media form," says Baillie. "And it will be the future of entertainment." The number of professional players is predicted to reach 1.5 million by 2025 and become a viable career option for future generations of Indians. Nowadays, you can play a very complex game with a mobile phone. Cloud computing means that you don't need the most up-to-date hardware and some games have been optimised for latency. A number of startups are tapping into the demand for affordable second-hand mobile phones. Electicity shortages are no longer problematic, as many people rely on battery banks. Women are starting to take up gaming in greater numbers and compete internationally, and esports has just been recognised by the Indian Olympic Association. We see 7Sea as an example of the new India: digital savvy and smart. You can see these guys came from nothing and became iconic, and a symbol of the new India.