Fantasy sport is what most young sports lovers today are crazy about. With fantasy sport, sports lovers need not just enjoy a game by being a spectator, but can also create an imaginary team (of real players) of his own choice and earn rewards when his imaginary team performs well. All thanks to the mobile and internet revolution, the fantasy gaming industry is booming in India too.
With a motivated will to explore this sector, Dream11 was founded back in 2008 by two young and talented co-founders Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth. A pioneer in the fantasy gaming segment, Dream11 is the first Indian gaming company to enter the unicorn club. Let's have a look at the journey of this Mumbai based startup that has been recognized as the top 10 innovative companies in India.
Dream11 - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Dream11 |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | Mumbai |
| Founders | Harsh Jain & Bhavit Sheth |
| Sector | Fantasy Gaming |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Parent Organization | Dream11 Fantasy Pvt Ltd |
| Website | dream11.com |
About Dream11 and How it Works
Dream11 - Target Market
Founders of Dream11 and team
Dream11 - Revenue Model
Dream11 - Startup Challenges
Dream11 - Competitors
Dream11 - Funding and Investors
Dream11 - Growth
Dream11 - Awards & Recognitions
About Dream11 and How it Works
Dream11 is an application that allows its users to create imaginary teams. The catch here is that the users can earn cash based on actual match performance of selected players on their teams. Each good move of the players earns cash rewards to the users. Moreover, Dream11 provides its users to play games in categories like cricket, football, kabaddi, and National Basketball Association.
Dream11 is one of India's Biggest Sports Gaming platform with an average of 4 crores+ users. It is a great platform for sports lovers in the country to showcase their knowledge and also compete with fellow fans.
Dream11 - Target Market
The online gaming sector in India has undergone a tremendous change in the last few years. The online gaming market in India which stood at $290 Mn in 2017, is expected to grow to $1 Bn by 2021. A report by Flurry Analytics said, "India currently ranks among the top five countries in the world for online and mobile gaming."
According to Deloitte, "Fantasy Sports in India has grown by 199.69%, generating a total revenue of about INR 67 Cr in 2016-17. This growth can be attributed to the annual T20 cricket summer when the Indian Premier League (IPL) dominates all sports in India."
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Dream11 Founders and team
Dream11 was founded by two young and aspiring entrepreneurs and sports lovers, Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2008.
- Dream11 CEO Harsh Jain, is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA from Columbia Business School. Before Dream11, he launched and successfully led the acquisition of Red Digital (a social media agency) by Gozoop. His vision with Dream11 is to entertain the sports fans with some real-time modules.
- Dream11 COO Bhavit Sheth is an Engineer with an MBA from Bentley University (Boston) and a Diploma in E-commerce strategies from Harvard. Bhavit co-founded Dream11 with Harsh in 2008. As COO, his prime focus is on providing the best, trusted, and user-focused experience via operational excellence throughout the company's processes.
Dream11 - Revenue Model
The revenue model of Dream11 primarily works on two levels.
- Entry-level fees from the participants to participate in the paid contests.
- When the users earn on their real-time performance of the players, Dream 11 takes its cut which accounts for about 15-20% of the total pool.
Dream11 - Startup Challenges
Being India's number one online gaming platform did not come without hurdles. First of them being the legal challenges, particularly because of its similarity to gambling, which is largely illegal in India. So it had to go through court allegations but the judiciary ruled that fantasy gaming is a game of skills rather than chances or probabilities. The industry though growing at an ever-increasing speed is at a self-regulatory phase.
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Dream11 - Competitors
Fantasy gaming in India is at such a boom that it wouldn't be wrong to say that there are new entrants every day in the market. With Dream11 being number one in the industry there are close to 60 other online gaming platforms operating in the same genre. Some of them include FanMojo, Mobile Premier League, Ballebaaz, HalaPlay, Gaming Monk, etc.
Dream11 - Funding and Investors
Dream11 has raised 6 rounds of funding till date. Dream11 joined the Indian unicorn club in April 2019 with an investment from Steadview Capital. The company is also backed by huge firms like Kalaari Capital, Chinese internet giant Tencent, Think Investments and Multiples Equity.
| Date | Stage | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| January, 2015 | Series A | Undisclosed | Kalaari Capital |
| December, 2015 | Series B | Undisclosed | Kalaari Capital |
| January, 2017 | Series C | Undisclosed | Multiples Alternate Asset Management Private Limited, Kalaari Capital |
| September, 2018 | Series D | $100 Million | Tencent Holdings |
| April, 2019 | Seconary Market | Undisclosed | Steadview Capital |
| January 2020 | Private Equity | $500 Million | Tiger Global |
Dream11 - Growth
- Joined the Indian Unicorn club.
- Caters to 100 Million users.
- Dream11 claims to have grown at a CAGR of 230% in the last three years.
- Though it took three years to hit 1 million users. Post that they crossed the 3 million mark in less than 2 months.
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Dream11 - Awards & Recognitions
- According to a report by Google, Dream11 was named among the Top 10 biggest and most popular trends of 2018 in India.
- In 2019, BCCI signed up Dream11 as IPL's official fantasy sports partner till 2022. This was not only validation for Dream11, but the whole fantasy gaming sector in the country.
- In 2018, Dream11 was ranked #9 among India's Great Mid-Size Workplaces
- In Inc42's 42Next list, Dream11 was one of 42 innovative startups.
Dream11 - FAQs
Is Dream11 Chinese app?
Dream11 is from India but it raised $100 million from Chinese internet giant Tencent last year at a valuation of about $700 million.
Who is founder of Dream11?
Dream11 was co-founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2008.
Is Dream11 legal and safe?
Yes, millions of people are playing paid leagues on dream11. It is absolutely safe and legal way to earn money. Dream11 is largest fantasy website in India having more that 1.1 crore players.
Link : https://startuptalky.com/dream11-biggest-fantasy-game-india/
Author :- Vidhi Punamiya
June 21, 2020 at 09:50AM
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