Ashneer Grover, a former BharatPe co-founder and MD, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover’s new company, Third Unicorn, will launch an app called CrickPe that will target the ever-increasing fantasy sports market in India.
According to an exclusive report from Entrackr, two people with knowledge of the situation, informed about the development. One of the sources said, “The company has been working on the app for the past four months and has decided to launch it in the next few weeks. The app is in closed beta mode and will soon open to the public.”
CrickPe website, which currently features an image of Grover that appears computer-generated and identifies it as a fantasy sports site for cricket lovers. According to Entrackr, the website itself appears to be a mock-up or incomplete because it includes blank spaces next to the founders’ names and other information.
Grover revealed some information regarding Third Unicorn in a LinkedIn post from last month. In his post, Grover revealed that the newly formed corporation was silently working on this project. The company also cleared its intentions of not using any VC-acquired capital, and also operate with not more than 50 employees.
Before parting his ways with the board of BharatPe, he also appeared in the inaugural season of the popular TV show Shark Tank India. Ever since, he has been a part of the pop culture through his social media collaborations and outspoken viewpoints. Grover also quoted controversies regarding issues with the BharatPe management and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
In addition to the introduction of the new business venture Third Unicorn, he has since published a book titled ‘Doglapan: The Hard Truth about Life and Start-Ups’, in an effort to capitalize onto his newly discovered persona of being a “celebrity.”
It would be interesting to see how the new venture performs in comparison to established sports fantasy applications, while the app launch is just around the corner. The app will have direct competition with the popular platforms in the space like Dream11 and My11Circle.
According to the information available to the sources of Entrackr, Grover is obviously attempting to gain traction with CrickPe by combining generous awards and astute marketing, while also attempting to have cricketers identify with the platform for the “rewards” that it wants to allocate for them.