Dream11 parent Dream Sports has closed an $840 million funding round led by Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Redbird Capital, and Tiger Global. The round values the sports tech company at $8 billion, up from $5 billion in March this year when it raised $400 million. The round also saw participation from existing investors TPG and Footpath Ventures. In September, it was reported that Dream11 is in talks to raise $400 million at an $8.5 billion valuation.
“Our vision and mission is to create an entrepreneur-led virtuous cycle of investment, innovation and wealth creation for all stakeholders in the sports ecosystem, from fans to athletes, teams and leagues. Our investors have deep experience in developing sports ecosystems globally, and we are fortunate to have their guidance to ‘Make Sports Better’ for 1 Billion Indian sports fans,” said Harsh Jain, CEO, and co-founder, Dream Sports as per media reports.
The company also operates ventures under brand names Dream Capital, FanCode, DreamSetGo, Dream Game Studios, and DreamPay. FanCode is a sports content platform, Dream Capital is an M&A and venture capital arm, DreamSetGo is a sports experiences platform, Dream Game Studios is a game publisher, and DreamPay is a payment service provider. In August, Dream Capital launched a $250 million venture capital fund. Dream Capital has a portfolio of 10 early-stage startups which includes Fittr, SoStronk, KheloMore, and Elevar.
For the financial year ending March 2020, the company posted a profit of Rs 180.8 crore. The company’s operational revenue jumped to Rs 2,070.4 crore in FY20, from Rs 775.5 crore in FY19. The company’s founders were recently booked by Bengaluru Police under the state’s online gambling law that came into effect on October 5.
Relying on a legal opinion by Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhushan, the company said the law did not apply to members of the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), a self-regulatory industry body for fantasy sports, since the format “has been upheld by the courts of India as not amounting to gambling, betting or wagering”. However, the fantasy gaming leader suspended operations in Karnataka on October 10 citing concerns from the players.