India’s largest sports gaming company Dream 11 announced on Monday that it has raised $225 Mn in a fresh funding round led by Tiger Global, TPG and Chryscapital. This is the first funding round for the Mumbai based gaming company in 2020 and also the first after it won IPL 2020’s title sponsorship. The company has not filed any ROC filings for its latest funding round. Many experts have touted Dream 11’s latest round to be the largest funding round ever in India’s gaming space.
With the latest funding round, the company’s valuation has soared to $2.5 Bn, a massive jump from the earlier valuation of $1.1 Bn during its last funding round in 2019. This Mumbai startup is the only and sole unicorn in India’s gaming industry.
In the press release, the company did not mention about how it intends to utilize the latest capital infusion. But a large portion of the funds is likely to be spent on marketing and advertising, the two areas where the company has traditionally invested lots of money.
The company had earned revenue of Rs 747 crore in 2019, a quantum jump of almost 3X as compared to 2018 when it clocked revenue of Rs 224 crore. However, its expenses grew equally at same pace, from Rs 293 crore in FY18 to approximately Rs 935 crore in FY19. The majority of the expenditure constituted of marketing and advertising expenses. The company has so far not filed its financial statement for FY20.
The gaming industry certainly witnessed massive boom during the lockdown period. According to consultancy firm Redseer, most gaming companies witnessed huge spike in the new users as well as in the overall revenue. The revenue saw a sporadic rise especially between April and June, when strict lockdown was imposed across India. Redseer study claims that India’s gaming market will reach $9 Bn by 2024.