Fantasy sports gaming firm Dream11 wants to back entrepreneurs who can build solutions around gaming and e-sports in India.
As per Dev Bajaj, gaming is a $3 billion market in the country. With around 500 million gamers, this market is expected to grow to $20 billion in the next eight years—which is an addressable market in the country.
Dream Capital—the venture arm of Dream11—invests in startups with cheque sizes of anything between $1 million to $100 million. The size of the fund is $250 million.
“In-app purchases are now a $700 million opportunity. Five years ago, this was zero. So, this shows that Indians are ready to spend on gaming,” said Bajaj.
But there are new products that need to be built around gaming. Using the US market as an example, Bajaj pointed out that companies like EA, Fanatics, and Roblox have already built multi-billion dollar businesses. It is only time till India also has such large companies coming out, he noted.
Dream Capital has already invested in 11 companies. Bajaj also spoke about the companies he has invested in, including Dream Game Studios, which is building a Fifa equivalent for cricket, or Sostronk, a social gaming platform.
There are massive opportunities around building fintech of sports, Bajaj said. Consumers are creating teams on Dream 11 and winning money, but what happens if there is an ecosystem of earning, saving, and spending in an interoperable manner across gaming platforms? That would be exciting, he pointed out.
Through DreamX, Bajaj intends to give a push to the ecosystem where consumers can transact seamlessly across multiple platforms, and it is the next big opportunity, he said.
