Indian sports platform Dream11 recently won the sponsorship rights for the cash-rich Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2020 edition. It has been reported that thry are looking to raise a fresh funds from four private equity firms.
Trusted sources told The Indian Express that the total deal is of worth $235 Mn, with a $35 Mn primary fund and a $200 Mn worth secondary sale of shares. If the deal get done, then the shares of Tencent Holdings of Chinese multinational conglomerates in the company could fall to a single digit.
Whereas, Tencent currently holds 10.9% shares in Dream11’s company Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd. And, the deal further can see Dream11’s valuation increase to $2.5 Bn, from the $1.1 Bn. Which it had in April 2019, when the stakes were bought by Steadview Capital from the company’s early investors.
On Aug 10, released by the IPL in the form of an Invitations For Expressions Of Interest (IEOI) For IPL Title Sponsorship Rights’. It was listed that BCCI will not be obliged to award the title sponsorship rights to the highest bidder.
“BCCI’s decision in this regard will also depend on a number of other relevant factors, including but not limited to, the manner in which the third party intends to exploit the Rights and the potential impact of the same on brand IPL as also the fan/ viewer experience, which will be examined/ evaluated by BCCI in the course of discussions/ negotiations with interested third parties who submit an EOI,” the document had stated.
It is clear why the BCCI decided to award the title sponsorship rights to the highest bidder. For pulling out out of the league this year, Dream11, its Chinese investors, given the prevalent anti-China sentiment. Indian edtech company Unacademy was been reportes as the second-highest bidder at INR 201 Cr. Bengaluru-headquartered Unacademy. It has no Chinese investors.
Dream11 has 80 Mn users on its platform. As, per the annual report of 2019, Dream11, the latest available report, the gaming firm’s revenue from operations raised to INR 775 Cr from INR 224 Cr in the year 2018. Its losses also widened to INR 131 Cr from INR 65 Cr in previous year.
