A garage in Mumbai?s suburban Chembur served as the office of a bunch of young computer whizkids. Students of Podar College of Commerce, the group ran an institute for multimedia training initially, and later began making computer-based games.

One day, when two gentlemen from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) walked in, they were surprised to be surrounded by T-shirt-and-denim-clad 22-year-olds. The men from the consulting firm were there with a strategy to fund the company. Five years later, Indiagames is one of India?s biggest games developers. The group which hung out at the garage is in the elite list of e-millionaires. And the man who negotiated with the venture capitalists ? CEO Vishal Gondal ? has just struck a lucrative deal with TOM Online, the Hong Kong-based Chinese wireless Internet company.

?I got into computers and gaming very early. I got my first computer when I was 12,? says the 28-year-old Gondal. Belonging to a Punjabi business family, he was born and brought up in Mumbai. ?Business is in my blood. My grandfather ran a flourishing jewellery business in pre-partition Pakistan. He had to start the business from scratch after moving to India. My father owned a cable manufacturing business. It was from my father?s garage that we started our small business.?

Gondal completed his schooling in a local school in Chembur, and finished his graduation from Podar. ?Those days engineering was the hottest career, but I got into commerce because I thought it would give me enough time to do other things,? says he. Incidentally, Gondal flunked his BCom in his favourite subject ? computers. ?My professors were shocked because everyone knew about my passion for computers. The funniest part was that I flunked because I could not reach the exam centre in time and I wasn?t allowed to write the exam. Of course, I cleared it in the next attempt.?

Gondal?s small company moved into developing PC-based games, and the first sign of success came when they developed a game based on the Kargil war. ?The war was at its peak, and we developed an online game where anyone could log on and fire bullets at the Pakistani army. The game became an instant hit, and got us lots of publicity,? Gondal recalls.

The Kargil game gave rise to the idea of starting an online gaming portal. The publicity ensured that people like PwC came knocking on Gondal?s doors. ?The only form of financing I knew then was bank loans. I had never heard about PwC or shareholding agreements and venture capital funding,? Gondal says.

Venture capital companies like Infinity Ventures and IL&FS Investment Managers poured in Rs 3.25 crore into Indiagames. But, just a few months into the business, the dotcom bust happened. Gondal had to steer the company through a wave of cost-cutting measures. ?But our business model was sturdy enough to survive the dotcom bust,? he says.

The gaming business prospered further when it spread to mobile phones. Indiagames was one of the first to seize the opportunity. When mobile handset manufacturer Nokia was planning to launch camera-phones, Indiagames created 11 games for them. When the camera-phones were actually launched, it was the only company making games for camera-phones. Indiagames signed up with 20 global operators including Vodafone and China Mobile.

?I guess it is important to be at the right place at the right time. There is no scope for you if you enter the business late. You simply have to be the first to get there,? says Gondal. In 2003, Indiagames bagged the exclusive worldwide rights for Spiderman for developing games, ringtones, wallpapers, and images by signing an agreement with Marvel Comics. In 2004, Indiagames has obtained licences for games like Bruce Lee and Predator.

The numbers of the gaming market are mind-boggling. ?It is already bigger than the entertainment industry. Sony earns nearly 40 per cent of its revenues from the Playstation. So, it?s billions of dollars we are talking about,? says Gondal. He wants Indiagames to be right on top. He asked Ernst & Young to hunt for a strategic partner and Gondal recently closed the $17.73 million deal with TOM Online. Under the deal, TOM will acquire an 80 per cent stake in Indiagames.

?I call it a unique alliance between the Asian Tiger and the Indian elephant,? says Gondal. They may still wear T-shirts at his office. But for Gondal, a guest speaker at various places and the latest Indian Internet star, it?s been a transition to three-piece suits. He?ll probably make that into a game too one day.