major league cricket ,mlcThe first professional Twenty20 cricket league in the US on Thursday announced that it has completed the early closing of a USD 44 million Series A and A1 fundraising round led by a group of prominent US business leaders.
It added that with an additional commitment of USD 76 million in further fundraising over the next 12 months, MLC plans to deploy over USD 120 million to launch the country’s first professional T20 league.
The investor group for the Series A and A1 fundraising rounds, which include MLC’s seed funding round, was led by Nadella.
Major League Cricket co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan.
#BuildAmericanCricket to secure investment MLC plans to invest $120 million to launch world class T20 cricket… https://t.co/xLJEMwWxdx
— Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) 1652890553000
“This investor group includes leading business executives and successful tech entrepreneurs who have led some of the world’s most prominent companies. “They bring tremendous experience and expertise to support MLC’s plans to launch a transformative Twenty20 league and establish America as one of the world’s premier homes for international cricket events,” he said.
Nadella has said that growing up in India, cricket was one of his “obsessions” and “playing cricket taught me more about working in teams and leadership that have been with me throughout my career”.
He played cricket competitively as a member of his school’s team and stated that he enjoys watching Test cricket, “which is the longest form of any sport in the world”.
The MLC said the USD 120 million investment will be primarily devoted to building premier cricket-specific stadiums and training centers to “develop a new generation of American star cricketers”.
Other investors include Soma Somsegar, MD of Madrona Venture Group, Founding Partners of Milliways Ventures and Rocketship VC Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, Zaiter Sanjay Govil, Chairman of Infinite Computer Solutions, Managing Partner of Perot Jain.
Investors in the additional Series A round include Akamai co-founder Pritish Nijhawan, Accenture MD Shankar Kaliaperumal and Meta Director and former Microsoft executive Dhigha Sekaran.
The MLC, exclusively endorsed by USA Cricket, represents “the most ambitious and transformative venture” ever undertaken in the American cricket landscape.
“Focus on staging world-class Twenty20 cricket for American cricket fans, MLC will engage top players from around the world and provide a platform for domestic cricketers to showcase their talents to a global audience.
As the ICC’s member body for the United States, USA Cricket has selected MLC as its exclusive partner for the development of the planned T20 league.
The MLC will also provide support for both the United States men’s and women’s teams, with the goal of taking them to the highest level of international standing. In 2024, USA will co-host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup along with West Indies.