Digikore Studios IPO, India’s Premier VFX Powerhouse, Prepares for public offering and Global Expansion

If you’re a fan of blockbuster movies like Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Star Trek, Jumanji, or Stranger Things VFX, here’s a revelation for you – they all share a remarkable connection. That connection is Digikore Studios, a distinguished Indian Visual Effects (VFX) company with an impressive portfolio of over 200 global projects spanning across films and web series. And now, this trailblazing studio is gearing up to take its global presence to new heights by launching its VFX IPO.

After receiving the green light from NSE EMERGE, Digikore Studios is all set to go public. Mark your calendars because the IPO is scheduled to open on September 25, 2023, and conclude on September 27. The IPO aims to raise an impressive Rs 30.479 crore, and the price range is set between Rs 168-171.

Abhishek More, the visionary founder of Digikore, shared his exciting vision for the future: “The last six years have been good, and now it is time to go for the next step and grow in North America and create a base there. We want to position Digikore as a global company, which will help us get bigger international projects.”

With aspirations to become a $25 million company by 2026, Digikore Studios is already making impressive strides. In the fiscal year 2023, they recorded revenue of Rs 33 crore and are on track to touch Rs 50 crore this year (FY24). Their ambitious target for 2026 is to achieve Rs 200 crore in revenue. While this may seem substantial in Indian terms, in the Canadian VFX industry, $25 million is considered mid-level, with studios reaching as high as $200-300 million.

Digikore’s journey, as recounted by More, is a roller coaster ride of determination and resilience. “We eventually identified VFX in 2010 again, and it was early days for it then. I came to know that James Cameron is making Titanic 3D. I managed to get his email ID and started mailing him to get some work for his project. I sent him many emails and eventually landed with Titanic 3D as our first project as a VFX studio. That became my calling card, which helped me bag other projects.”

However, they faced a challenge when they decided to work on Indian projects. “I got greedy for recognition, and that’s the first mistake I made in the VFX space. I wanted to see my company’s name on the big screen and decided to work on Indian projects. This turned out to be a big mistake. In 2013, we set up operations in Mumbai and got into Bollywood. We did projects like Haider, Talvar, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. We turned a profit-making company into a loss-making one by 2016 because the revenues coming from the India projects were lower. We took the hard decision of shutting down the Bollywood business overnight in 2016 and started focusing on Hollywood again. Since 2016, I have only been looking at profits,” the founder said.

Despite challenges, Digikore Studios persevered and saw remarkable growth, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In the first six to nine months of COVID, there was little to no business, and things became bad. The situation started settling down because of high content consumption, which led to increased content production. COVID saw millions of viewers get on to streaming platforms, which made them double their content spend. Even TV (broadcasters) upped their game and started producing more content. Films too have gotten bigger, and that means more VFX. All these factors have driven growth,” he said.

One of the driving forces behind Digikore’s growth has been the surge in over-the-top (OTT) platforms. In 2022, five global VFX giants, including ILM, entered or announced their entry into the Indian market. Last year alone, streaming platforms invested a staggering $60 billion in global original content production, as reported by FICCI-EY 2023.

For Digikore, 70 percent of its revenue comes from episodic content, including series for OTT and TV, while the remaining 30 percent is from films.

The heart of Digikore’s success is its global outlook. “As of today, over 99 percent of revenue comes from outside India, and domestic business is less than 1 percent. Our growth will be in North America and not in India because budgets are very low in India, especially for episodic content,” More explained.

While expanding operations with VFX studios in North America, Digikore Studios remains committed to its roots in India, where the bulk of its creative and production talent resides. “In North America, we would not have more than 25-30 key creative production talent. The majority of the delivery workforce will be from India which will make us price-competitive. We currently have 400 employees and by 2026 we have a roadmap to expand our team to a headcount of 900 in India,” More said.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates as Digikore Studios continues its remarkable journey towards global recognition and success!