Mumbai: Super Six Sports Gaming Pvt. Ltd. (SSSG), the parent company of fantasy sports brand Fantasy Akhada, has raised $11 million (roughly Rs. 30,000 crores) 90 Crore) in a fresh round of funding led by Florentry Advisors.
Existing investors Mukul Agarwal (Param Capital) and Varalakshmi Enterprises (family office of GMR Group) also participated in the round. A senior company official said the fundraising SSSG was valued at $135 million. Mint had a report on the fundraising plans on 5 January.
Led by Matthew Cyriac, former head of Blackstone India, Florentry Advisors is a growth-stage private equity firm that invests in technology-backed firms.
Founded in 2020 by Amit Purohit, Amit Bhardwaj, Ankit Upreti, Prateek Gosar, Sumit Jha and Sahil Ahuja, SSSG has raised over $20 million in equity funding to date.
Fantasy Arena helps users to create virtual teams of real professional sports players. Apart from cricket, the platform offers users a fantasy gaming experience in other sports like football and kabaddi.
Fantasy Akhada competes with peers like Dream11, MPL, Halaplay, Cricplay and Zapk.
The company plans to use the new capital to launch a new brand that focuses on sports streaming, content and analytics. It will also use the funds to build technology and for business expansion.
“In January 2023, we achieved operating profitability for the first time and demonstrated a clear path to company-level profitability. The fact that we were able to achieve a major milestone in that journey in January has given us great confidence that we can deliver more brands that will enhance the sporting culture in India. Purohit, who is also the group chief executive officer at SSSG, said that this fundraising will help us achieve the current business plan. 600 crore, which would mark a sharp increase from FY22. He did not disclose last year’s figures. CEA is defined as the total gameplay of all users on a platform in a specific period of time.
“There is a digital revolution that we are witnessing in India with one billion smartphones in the hands of people. Technology will play a key role in making India a truly multi-sport nation,” said Floritry’s Cyriac.
The fantasy arena is heavily dependent on the rise of domestic playing opportunities and tournaments.
According to a report by market research firm, Market Decipher, India has the world’s largest fantasy sports market with over 130 million users and was valued at 34,600 crore in 2021, with an expected annual growth of 32% between 2022 and 2032.
In the last decade, the number of participants in fantasy sports in India has increased by eight times, while the number of users of fantasy sports has increased by almost 26 times.
India offers a diverse selection of sports entertainment from fantasy cricket to fantasy kabaddi. The gross income earned by the fantasy sports sector in FY20 was 2,470 crore, while the market size was 920 crores in 2019. It states that the size tripled during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to Market Decipher.
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