Hyderabad: In 2020, a European betting and gaming company quietly set up a small technology team in Hyderabad. No fanfare. No grand announcements. Just one capability, one team, and a long-term bet on India.
Five years later, that quiet beginning has become a very loud statement.
Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG) — one of Central and Eastern Europe’s most established omnichannel betting and gaming operators — has inaugurated its brand-new AI-driven Global Capability Centre (GCC) at My Home Twitza, HITEC City, Hyderabad, committing €12 million to India over the next five years.
The Hyderabad centre is now FEG’s third-largest technology hub globally, ranking only behind the group’s established centres in Prague, Czech Republic and Split, Croatia. That is not a support office. That is a nerve centre — and its story is worth telling in full.
How It All Started
Every great business chapter has a modest first line. For FEG India Solutions, that first line was written in 2020 with a single operational capability and a small team in Hyderabad.
Avinash Gupta, Managing Director of FEG India Solutions, has been at the heart of this journey from the beginning. His reflection captures the arc of what has been built:
“What started with a single capability has today grown into a high-impact technology hub spanning BI, AI, software testing, IT monitoring, automation, and gaming operations. The Hyderabad GCC is now deeply embedded into FEG’s global strategy and will continue to drive innovation, agility, and long-term business value.”
This is the kind of growth story that does not happen by accident. It happens when a company builds trust function by function, proves value year by year, and earns the right to expand. FEG India did exactly that — and the €12 million investment is the reward for that discipline.
What the Hyderabad GCC Will Power
The new centre is not a back-office operation. It is a full-scale, mission-critical technology hub built to drive FEG’s most ambitious capabilities — directly supporting the group’s omnichannel operations across multiple regulated European markets.
The Hyderabad GCC will drive the group’s capabilities across:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Advanced Analytics and Business Intelligence
- Intelligent Automation
- Customer Experience Optimisation
- Real-Time Business Insights
- Software Testing and IT Monitoring
Sotiris Haritos, Group CTO of FEG, outlined the technology vision powering this expansion:
“The Hyderabad GCC will be instrumental in building future-focused digital platforms powered by AI and data intelligence. Beyond supporting operations, the centre will contribute directly to product innovation, intelligent automation, and real-time business insights that will shape FEG’s technology evolution globally.”
This is a technology mandate — not a cost mandate. And that distinction matters enormously when understanding what FEG is building in India.
The Strategy Behind the Investment
The inauguration was attended by FEG’s senior global leadership, including Group CEO Dieter John, Group CTO Sotiris Haritos, MD of FEG India Solutions Avinash Gupta, and Iain Child, Managing Partner at Penta Investments — the multi-billion-euro Central European investment group that owns FEG.
Their collective presence at the Hyderabad event was itself a signal. This was not a regional milestone. This was a global moment.
Dieter John, speaking at the inauguration, made FEG’s position on India unmistakably clear:
“The Hyderabad hub reflects the company’s long-term vision of building globally integrated and future-ready capabilities. India is central to FEG’s long-term global growth strategy. Over the years, we have seen Hyderabad evolving into a strategic technology hub for us, combining strong engineering talent with deep expertise in AI, analytics, and digital innovation. This new facility strengthens our ability to build scalable and future-ready capabilities for global markets.”
The expansion is central to two of FEG’s most significant strategic programmes: “FEG 2.0” — the group’s next-phase growth agenda — and “Fortuna Fit for Future” (F4) — a company-wide transformation focused on making FEG more scalable, technology-first, and data-led across all global operations.
Hyderabad is not peripheral to these programmes. It is integral to them.
The Investor’s Perspective
For Iain Child, the decision to invest in India reflects a clear-eyed read of where long-term technology value is being built:
“India offers the right mix of innovation, scalability, and highly skilled talent. Strengthening capabilities in AI, analytics, and engineering through the Hyderabad GCC will be important in supporting FEG’s long-term competitiveness and global growth ambitions.”
Penta Investments — which manages a multi-billion-euro portfolio across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, media, and real estate — has a long track record of identifying markets where structural advantages compound over time. Their conviction in India, channelled through FEG’s GCC, is consistent with that philosophy.
What This Means for India’s GCC Story
FEG’s expansion is part of a broader, accelerating trend. Global companies from highly specialised, technology-intensive sectors — not just the traditional IT and BFSI giants — are now choosing India to build mission-critical capabilities.
Hyderabad’s deep talent pool in AI, engineering, data science, and digital technologies was a decisive factor for FEG. And the city continues to strengthen its position as a global technology destination with every announcement of this scale.
For India’s GCC ecosystem, FEG’s €12 million commitment is both validation and momentum — proof that the country’s technology story is entering a new and more complex chapter, one being written by companies from industries that might once have seemed unlikely to plant their flags here.
The Lesson for Entrepreneurs
If you are building something today — a team, a product, a company — the FEG India story carries a lesson worth sitting with.
They did not arrive in Hyderabad with €12 million. They arrived with one capability and a willingness to prove themselves. The investment followed the value. The scale followed the trust.
That is not a European strategy or a GCC strategy. That is a fundamentally sound business strategy — and it works whether you are building in Hyderabad, Helsinki, or anywhere else.
Start right. Build well. Let the results make the case.
About Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG)
Fortuna Entertainment Group is a leading omnichannel betting and gaming operator in Central and Eastern Europe, with operations across multiple regulated markets and 25 years of operational history. The group combines digital innovation with strong market expertise to deliver integrated online and retail experiences.
About Penta Investments
Penta Investments is a Central European investment group managing a diversified, multi-billion-euro portfolio. It is a long-term investor in Fortuna Entertainment Group and operates across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, media, and real estate.
