Dream11

History
Dream11 was co-founded by Harsh Jain & Bhavit Sheth in 2008. In 2012, they introduced
freemium fantasy sports in India for cricket fans. In 2014, the company reported 1 million
registered users, which grew to 2 million in 2016 and to 45 million in 2018. In April 2019,
Steadview Capital completed secondary investment in Dream11. Apart from Steadview,
Dream11's investors included Kalaari Capital, Think Investments, Multiples Equity
and Tencent.

Legality
In 2017, a case was registered against the company in an Indian High Court. The court, in its
ruling, stated that playing the Dream11 game involves superior knowledge, judgement and
attention. The Court also held that "the element of skill" had a predominant influence on the
outcome of the Dream11 game. However, the law does not allow fantasy sports in a few
Indian states like Assam, Odisha and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. A challenge to this
judgement was filed with the Supreme Court of India, which dismissed the appeal. The
judgement provided legality to the company and allowed them to run their operations
throughout the country.
Despite it being adjudged to be a "game of skill", experts believe that the company operates
in the country's regulatory "grey area". Dream11 is not available on the Google Play store for
Android devices as Google does not allow apps that run cash contests.

Partnerships
On 18 August 2020 Dream11 won the rights for the 2020 Indian Premier League sponsorship
for ₹ 2.22 billion after technology company Vivo pulled out for a year.[21] In August 2020,
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced Dream11 as the Official Partner
for the Indian Premier League.Additionally, the ‘Official Fantasy Game’ of IPL will also be
powered by Dream11.
In October 2019, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced Dream11 as the title sponsor for
the Super Smash domestic Twenty20 competition. In January 2021, this partnership was
extended for another six years until 2026.
In 2018, Dream11 announced its partnership with ICC (International Cricket Council), Pro
Kabaddi League, International Hockey Federation (FIH), WBBL and BBL. In 2018, through the
above partnership, Dream11 introduced two new games on their platform
viz., Kabaddi and Hockey.
In 2017, the company partnered with three leagues within cricket, football and basketball.
Dream11 became the Official Fantasy Partner for Hero Caribbean Premier League, Hero
Indian Super League and US professional basketball league National Basketball
Association (NBA). Later in the year, they partnered with the Indian Super League as their
official Fantasy Football Partner. In November 2017, the NBA, launched a fantasy basketball
game in association with Dream11 and launched their official NBA fantasy game on their
platform.

Brand ambassadors
Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the brand ambassador of Dream11 and launched the “Dimaag se Dhoni”
media campaign during the 2018 Indian Premier League.[32] The company had first signed
commentator Harsha Bhogle as their brand ambassador in 2017.[33] For 2019 IPL, Dream11 signed up seven
cricketers and partnered with seven Indian Premier League franchise as part of its multi-channel marketing
campaign.[34]

Format
Dream11 provides a fantasy gaming platform for multiple sports such
as cricket, football, basketball, kabaddi, hockey, volleyball, handball and baseball. It is an
online game where users create a virtual team of real-life players and earn points based on
the performances of these players in real matches.[35] A user who scores the maximum points
in their joined contests attains the first rank on the leader-board. Dream11 offers free and
paid contests. A user has to pay a certain fee to join a contest and can win real cash. [36] To
participate in a Dream11 game, a user must be at least 18 years old and needs to get their
profile verified using their PAN.

Dream11 - Startup Challenges

Being India's number one online gaming platform did not come without hurdles. First of them
being the legal challenges, particularly because of its similarity to gambling, which is largely
illegal in India. So it had to go through court allegations but the judiciary ruled that fantasy
gaming is a game of skills rather than chances or probabilities. The industry though growing
at an ever-increasing speed is at a self-regulatory phase.
Vision Statement.
Dream11 is India’s #1 fantasy sports platform with a growing user base of over 15 million+
Indians playing fantasy cricket, football & kabaddi. Our vision is to make fantasy sports a part
of every sports fan's life. Dream11 is a series C funded startup with marquee investors like
Multiple Equity, Kalaari Capital and the US based hedge fund, Think Investments. The
company was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2012.

Dream11 - Competitors
Fantasy gaming in India is at such a boom that it wouldn't be wrong to say that there are new
entrants every day in the market. With Dream11 being number one in the industry there are
close to 60 other online gaming platforms operating in the same genre. Some of them
include FanMojo, Mobile Premier League, Ballebaaz, HalaPlay, Gaming Monk, etc.

Participation Process
Dream11 is a Game of Skill where you create a team of real players for an upcoming match
and compete with other fans for big prizes.
1. Select A Match
Dream11 hosts games across many different sports. Click on an upcoming match you want
to play and keep an eye on the match deadline.
2. Create Your Teams
Use your knowledge of sports to pick a team within a budget of 100 credits who you think
will score the most points for the selected match.
Remember, you can create and join contests with up to 11 teams for every match, so try
different combinations to improve your chances of winning.
What are credits?
Credits are the cost of a player. In-form and star players typically cost more credits, while
inexperienced or non-regular players cost less.
What are Fantasy Points?
Fantasy Points are earned by real-life players on the basis of their performances in a match.
For example, players earn points for scoring runs, taking wickets, etc. (cricket), scoring goals,
making assists, etc. (football) and similar actions for other sports.
You can check out the Fantasy Points System under each sport for more details.
Can I edit my team after I create it?
You can edit your team as many times as you like before the match deadline. Go to My Teams
on the match page to check all the teams you have created.
Use the Player Info, Teams Selected By (% Sel By) and Tour Points on the Create Team page
to understand the competition and find your winning combination.
3. Join Contests
We have many different contest formats for you to join. Choose between free and paid
contests, or even create a new private contest just for you and your friends. You play your
way!
Contests can be filtered and sorted by Entry Fee, Number of Teams, Prize Pool and Style of
Play. Picking the right contest often helps you win big, so choose wisely!

4. Follow the match

Once a match is live, you can follow your contests leaderboards to see how you’re performing
against your competition.
What’s more, you can even chat with them in real-time through our Contest Chat feature.
Withdrawing your winnings
After a match ends, if you’re in the winning zone for a contest, then your contest winnings
are transferred to your account.
Use them to join more contests, or withdraw it and celebrate your success!

Revenue & Growth.

According to the joint report released by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) and
KPMG, the Indian online fantasy sports industry was booming vastly, before the COVID-19
pandemic wreaked havoc across the world. As per the data, the gross revenue of online
fantasy sports (OFS) operators including Dream11 increased threefold to Rs 2,470 (US$
350.40 million) in FY20 versus Rs 920 crore (US$ 130.51 million) in the previous fiscal. The
increase of three-fold was registered despite the impact of the pandemic on the revenues for
the last 15 days of March when government restricted businesses activities and announced
the nationwide lockdown.
 • Joined the Indian Unicorn club in 2019
• Caters to 100 Million users.
• Dream11 claims to have grown at a CAGR of 230% in the last three years.
• Though it took three years to hit 1 million users. Post that they crossed the 3 million
mark in less than 2 months.

Dream11 - Revenue Model

The revenue model of Dream11 primarily works on two levels.
• Entry-level fees from the participants to participate in the paid contests.
• When the users earn on their real-time performance of the players, Dream 11 takes
its cut which accounts for about 15-20% of the total pool.

Dream11 - Funding and Investors

Dream11 has raised 6 rounds of funding till date. Dream11 joined the Indian unicorn club in
April 2019 with an investment from Steadview Capital. The company is also backed by huge
firms like Kalaari Capital, Chinese internet giant Tencent, Think Investments and Multiples
Equity.

Date Stage Amount Investors

January 2015 Series A Undisclosed Kalaari Capital
December Series B Undisclosed Kalaari Capital
2015
January 2017 Series C Undisclosed Multiples Alternate Asset
Management Private Limited, Kalaari
Capital
September, Series D $100 Million Tencent Holdings
2018
April 2019 Seconary Undisclosed Steadview Capital
Market
January 2020 Private $500 Million Tiger Global
Equity
Dream11 - Awards & Recognitions
• According to a report by Google, Dream11 was named among the Top 10 biggest and
most popular trends of 2018 in India.
• In 2019, BCCI signed up Dream11 as IPL's official fantasy sports partner till 2022.
This was not only validation for Dream11, but the whole fantasy gaming sector in the
country.
• In 2018, Dream11 was ranked #9 among India's Great Mid-Size Workplaces
• In Inc42's 42Next list, Dream11 was one of 42 innovative startups.