Dream11 not interested in going public or taking IPO route as of now, reveals Harsh Jain

Dream Sports CEO and co-founder Harsh Jain has stated that unlike Nazara Technologies, which became the first listed company from the Indian gaming space, his company is not interested in going public as of now and will be focusing on providing a much larger sports tech offering.

Dream11, with the latest round of funding from TCV, D1 Capital Partners, and Falcon Edge, raised their valuation $5 billion, solidifying their stance as the biggest players in the market. However, with Nazara taking the IPO route after being backed by Business magnate Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, speculation was rife that Dream Sports might take the same route for their business but Jain clarified that the company has no such plans.

“We wouldn’t want to jump into the IPO market just because it is hot right now. The right time for us will be when we build a large sports technology company with a lot more of these smaller fledgling startups that we have created, incubated or funded grow up. We are not just a one-trick pony with fantasy sports. We have a much larger sports tech offering, and we would like to go public as a sports tech company in a bigger way, maybe a couple of years down the line. We are not interested in going public as of now,” Jain told Mint.

Currently, there is no regulatory framework for fantasy sports offering even though Niti Aayog drafted the first set of guidelines for online fantasy sports. Jain feels that it was a brilliant first step but added that e-sports need to be branched out for better understanding and application.

“The government is doing a great job of talking to companies and taking the right steps. The first of these would be by Niti Aayog, which has done a phenomenal job of drafting the first set of guidelines for online fantasy sports. We hope that it will be published soon as a final version. We also think e-sports and fantasy sports need to be bifurcated as two distinct verticals under sports. E-sports is competitive gaming recognized as a sport, while fantasy sports is digital sports engagement based on real-life sports.”