South African internet group Naspers, is reportedly, in talks to buy a stake for about $100 million (approx ₹713 crore) in Dream11, a Mumbai-based fantasy sports platform, from Kalaari Capital, Think Investments, and Multiples Alternate Asset Management, reported Livemint, citing various sources.
The above cited sources further revealed that Dream11 is now seeking a valuation of $2.5 billion, more than double the $1.1 billion it was valued at in April 2019.
“Dream11 does not need to raise a large round, but has significant inbound interest from investors. When these companies are growing fast, they prefer having a diversified set of investors and such secondary rounds give the founder the valuations they want and give early investors exit at good multiples,” said an anonymous investor.
Founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2012, Dream11 provides a platform for sports fans to showcase their knowledge in various fantasy sports like cricket, football, kabaddi, and NBA, to win some real cash. The platform engages fans to create a comprehensive gaming platform by enabling deeper connections.
The gaming platform claims to more than 4 crore users playing different fantasy sports.
Dream11 had about 50 million subscribers in February and is looking to double the number by the end of the year.
Besides Dream11, other online gaming platform include Nazara Technologies, SportsKeeda, Qunami, HalaPlay, Paytm First games, BalleBaazi, Games2Win, and many more.