Dream11 is a fantasy sports platform based in India that allows users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi and basketball.
Dream11 was co-founded by Jain, who did engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and Bhavith Sheth, a graduate from Mumbai’s DJ Sanghvi, back in 2008, when both were around 22. Jain was then working as marketing manager at infrastructure and real estate firm Jai Corp, promoted by his father Anand Jain. Dream11 started as a personal project, as both Jain and Sheth were big fans of English football fantasy leagues. They wanted to do something similar for IPL, which had just started, and thought there will be others like them. At the same time, the duo dabbled in other ventures, including a digital and social media agency called Red Digital in 2010 which they sold to Gozoop for about Rs 7 crore in 2013. Meanwhile, Jain and Sheth also got their MBAs from the US.
Initially, Dream11 ran as an ad-based model with a season-long format, which did not find many takers. By 2012 the company decided to stop this model and instead focus on daily matches and allow users to put money on the teams. Dream11 allows you to choose a team before a match starts, and pick which players will perform the best. Based on their performance during the actual match, you accumulate points and get a rank at the end of the game. If you participate in a game with money, it goes into a common pool, and you get winnings based on the ranks after being charged a service fee. Things started to take off from the end of 2014 when the company raised its first round of funding from Kalaari Capital. Jain was introduced to the VC firm by Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl, who was with him at the University of Pennsylvania. From just 300,000 users in January 2015, the company reached 1.3 million by the end of the year. This number jumped to 5.7 million by the end of 2016, then to 17 million in 2017, and to over 50 million now. The company has had its share of legal wrangles. In 2017, one of its users took Dream11 to the Punjab and Haryana high court after losing money. But the courts ruled in favour of Dream11, saying that it is not gambling but a game of skill as users have to build a team based on current form and past performance of athletes. But the court ruling does not make fantasy gaming legal in India, and there could be further challenges. Every state has its own rules on it. Jain helped set up an industry body called Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) in 2017 to establish self-regulation standards for the industry – there are some 50-60 fantasy gaming platforms in India – before the government comes out with legislation. This was important because even after the Supreme Court declared rummy as a game of skill in 2015, some states like Telangana banned it, impacting companies in the space. Currently Dream11 has a lion’s share in an online Indian fantasy sports and in April 2019, Dream11 became the first Indian gaming company to enter the ‘Unicorn Club’.
