SUMMARY
As part of the investment deal, Bhogle will lead Bowled.io's think tank (board), teaming up with other international cricketers
Bhogle will also assist Bowled.io in developing new formats of cricket-based games, assisting the startup with business insights and connecting more international cricket fans
Bowled.io offers six hyper-casual and two mid-core strategy online games. It also plans to introduce live cricket games to the platform
Online gaming startup Bowled.io has received a strategic investment from Indian cricket commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle.
As part of the investment deal, Bowled.io shared that Bhogle will lead its think tank (board), teaming up with other international cricketers.
Bhogle will also assist Bowled.io in developing new formats of cricket-based games, assisting the startup with business insights and connecting more international cricket fans.
Founded in 2021 by Neeraj Jhanji, Rahul Singh and Akshay Khandelwal, Bowled.io offers online cricket-based games to users. It enables users to compete in online cricket tournaments and earn money by collecting BWLD coins.
As shared by the startup, Bowled.io offers six hyper-casual and two mid-core strategy online games. It also plans to introduce live cricket games to the platform.
“Bowled.io is the go-to platform for cricket lovers providing an immersive and 360-degree experience for cricket fans to connect, compete, and share their passion for the sport. So far, global cricket fans have hit over 10.5 Mn sixes, caught over 12 Mn catches and taken over 2.5 Mn wickets on the platform,” Singh said.
Bowled.io said that its entire platform is powered by blockchain technology. It claims to manage an online community of cricket fans from more than 70 countries. It also looks to venture into other online sports segments such as football, tennis and basketball.
The startup asserted that it clocked over 34 Mn hours of gameplay on the platform and more than 60 Mn in-game assets (BWLD coins) are in circulation.
In March 2022, it raised $3 Mn in a Pre-Seed funding round from investors.
“Strategy-based games have always piqued my interest since they let people compete with one another and get more involved. I was drawn in by the prospect of working with a youthful, zealous team of cricket enthusiasts and their new take on cricket. I now expect a prolonged, exploratory journey with this fantastic young team,” said Bhogle.
In India, it faces competition from the likes of Poki, Zapak and MPL, among others.
As per a Statista report, the country’s online gaming space is pegged at $0.97 Bn in 2023 and is likely to grow to $1.39 Bn by 2027. The industry is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.47% during 2023-27.
After grabbing the attention of the Centre, the country’s gaming sector is going under massive changes. Recently, the Centre shared that India’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) for online gaming would be established in Meghalaya’s Shillong by March 2023.
Earlier this month, MeitY proposed a self-regulatory mechanism for regulating the online gaming industry in the draft amendments added in the IT rules 2021.
Meanwhile, online gaming majors MPL and Dream11 performed moderately in the financial year 2022.
While Dream11’s net profit slipped by 56.59% to INR 141.97 Cr in FY22 from INR 327.1 Cr in FY21. Its operating revenue soared 1.5X year-on-year (YoY) to INR 3,840.7 Cr in FY22 against INR 2,554.3 Cr clocked in FY21.
On the other hand, in FY22, MPL’s losses grew by 3X to $149.3 Mn against $48.3 Mn in FY21. Its operating revenue soared by 29% to $65.6 Mn in FY22 as compared to $50.8 Mn in FY21.
