DREAM BIG, DREAM11

INTRODUCTION

Fantasy Sports drives most young sports lovers today insane. In fantasy sports, sports lovers not only have to enjoy a game as spectators, but they can also form an imaginary team (made up of real players) of their own choice and earn rewards when that imaginary team performs well. 

Thanks to the mobile and internet revolution, the fantasy gaming industry is also booming in India. With a motivated will to explore this sector, Dream11 was founded in 2008 by two young and talented co-founders, Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth.

A pioneer in the fantasy gaming segment, Dream11 is the first Indian gaming company to join the unicorn club.

HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, avid child athletes, co-based Dream11, the maximum famous myth sports activities app. The Indian Premier League (IPL) became the catalyst for the emergence of the brand-new myth sports activities industry.

In a rustic with billions of cricket fans, Harsh and Bhavit based the business enterprise believing that myth sports activities leagues could grow to be a worthwhile carrier opportunity. 

Harsh graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Business School and lower back to India to remedy a myth sports problem.

He invited others to sign up for him in locating a quicker approach to the problem. Many laughed at him, however, Harsh’s university classmate, Bhavit Sheth, determined to sign up for him for a larger party.

In 2012, the business enterprise released its first freemium carrier, and from there the actual adventure began.

“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,” Dream Sports’ co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain.

WHY THE NAME DREAM11?

The name Dream 11 was chosen for its great skill. Both cricket and soccer are very popular all over the world, with 11 players in every live game.

The main idea of ​​the company is to get users to create a dream team, so basically, they are trying to create a Dream 11 player group.

Dream11 launched a series of 6 recent campaigns, which revolve around the tagline, ‘Team Hai Toh Mazaa Hai’ which is loosely translated to if there’s a team, then there’s fun.

HOW IT WORKS?

Dream11 does not sell its business through Google Ads or other advertising agencies. They only make a profit by hosting fantasy games on their website. They tried Google AdSense first, but haven’t tried it since then to provide users with a simple and fast user experience. Did you know that only 10% of Dream11 players participate in paid tournaments?

This is important because converting free users to paid users is difficult and expensive. Dream11 was the first app in India to launch a private fantasy game app. We support all three ways fantasy athletes can make money (freemium, premium and private).

They charge at least 20% of the total amount earned in Grand Leagues or Minor Leagues. Each contest you participate in has a certain commission.

Other sites like Halaplay and MyTeam 11 have very low fees. There is no charge for private contests. But why do people keep choosing Dream11?

Ideal if you’re playing with friends or teams and have the freedom to host your own competition (for example, you can create your own cricket team). Still, you have to pay Dream 11 a fee of at least 20%. So you make money while enjoying your game.

THE CHALLENGES

Being the number one online gaming platform in India has not been easy. The first of the challenges was the legal challenges, particularly given its similarity to gambling, which is largely illegal in India.

This landed the company through lawsuits, but the judge ruled that fantasy games are more a game of skill than chance or probability.

Although the industry is growing faster and faster, it is in a phase of self-regulation. At first, It didn’t have much money. Dream11 started its fantasy sports business for just a few thousand dollars, but it expanded rapidly and required the investment of many angel investors.

The amount of money needed to run a company was very high. But thanks to their bargaining skills, they were able to find some decent investment opportunities and were almost complete.

A few other challenges it found were like locating a business market, marketing the company, fixing the office location, planning and implementing the appropriate technologies.

THE SUCCESS AND THE FUTURE

India’s fantasy sports market is on track to become an international giant, growing from an estimated $ 4.6 billion in 2009 to over $ 22 billion, according to a recent report by the Indian Fantasy Sports Federation, which has partnered with Deloitte.

Dream11 is in control, despite enjoying its position as a representative of the fantasy sports industry. The total valuation of Dream11 as of 2022 is estimated to be a whopping $ 8 billion.

Dream11 became the title sponsor for the Indian Premier League in 2020 for Rs 222 crore which helped to propel its adoption amongst cricket fans in India. If this is not success the what is?