Dream11-backed cricket NFT platform Rario has reportedly burned through its $120 million seed funding. The company raised the amount roughly 15 months back in its Series-A funding round.
The company recently saw its co-founders Ankit Wadhwa (CEO) and Sunny Bhanot (CTO) relieve their positions, respectively. The move was dubbed as the investors’ strategic decision. Further information regarding the matter is yet to be made public. Notably, CFO Priyesh Karia has assumed the CEO position for the time being.
According to an anonymous source who spoke to Entrackr, the co-founders were forced to resign as the company was going under due to lack of funds. “The company has burnt through the entire $120 million without a proper business model and array of regulatory challenges,” the source added.
Furthermore, the investors have also trimmed the workforce for the time being. As per the source, around one-fifth of the staff has resigned or left voluntarily. The company is expected to further remove two-third of its workforce.
The company halted its operations in March last year, after which they received their said funding and relaunched its marketplace in December 2022. However, since the app was not available on Google Play Store, users’ reach was marred severely.
Rario marred by controversies
NFTs and Web 3 are already less in demand due to other high quality games available nowadays. Additionally, Rario was already under controversy in the past, most notable one being its case against Striker. Rario, in its plea against the card trading NFT platform, in Delhi High Court, claimed that the company owned exclusive rights to player-based NFTs.
However, MPL-backed Striker argued that they collaborate with talented artists to create custom NFTs for player cards. The Justice Amit Bansal-led bench, in April, ruled that Rario cannot claim exclusive rights over NFT technology.
Near-bankruptcy, added with other controversies, has led many into thinking that the road has come to an end for Rario. However, miracles can happen, and the interim CEO Karia might turn things around.