Dream Sports' VC arm announces $250 mn corpus to invest in startups

Dream Capital (DreamCap), the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of gaming firm Dream Sports, announced a corpus of $250 million to unlock the high growth potential of startups in sports, gaming and fitness-tech industries in India. Over the past one year, DreamCap has already invested in 8 start-ups in India, such as SoStronk, DreamGameStudios, Elevar, FanCode and DreamSetGo. 

As the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of Dream Sports, DreamCap will follow a multi-stage investment strategy ranging from $1 million to $100 million ticket sizes. It includes in-depth coverage of the sports, gaming and fitness-tech sectors. Through its selective process, DreamCap is looking to support start-ups with disruptive technology, great products, data insights and the potential to achieve at least $100 million individually in annual revenues within five years. 

“Dream Sports has a collective user base of 125 million sports fans, and we recognise the great growth opportunities in sports, gaming and fitness-tech in India,” said Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder of Dream Sports. “As entrepreneurs ourselves, we are here to back other entrepreneurs through Dream Capital and provide them with access to our 125 million-strong user base and operational support from our expert team of CXOs.”

To date, the platform has assessed over 250 start-ups and invested in 8 companies. Some representative investments include the acquisition of DreamGameStudios (formerly known as Rolocule) - a mobile gaming studio building best-in-class sports games. Others include minority investment in SoStronk - a B2C Esports platform for all competitive gamers and Elevar - a D2C performance sports footwear and equipment brand. DreamCap is also doing large follow-on rounds in DS incubated businesses like FanCode and DreamSetGo. 

 “As a multi-stage CVC, we provide patient capital plus deep tactical insights to startups to increase their probability of success,” said Dev Bajaj, managing director, Dream Capital. “Our aim is to complement entrepreneurs with our strategy, product, and marketing knowledge that is not typically accessible at an early stage. DreamCap is always looking to add talent to its team of entrepreneurs and VC and PE professionals with a passion for sports and gaming.”

Dream Sports is at the intersection of sports, gamification and technology with over 125 million users. It has already made an impact in the sports ecosystem fuelled by the growth in digital infrastructure. However, this only scratches the surface of India’s potential, leaving a plethora of white spaces yet to be explored - specifically in the areas of sports, gaming and fitness.