GMR Sports In Talks To Buy ‘Significant’ Stake In Harsha Bhogle-Backed Fantasy Akhada

Fantasy gaming firm Fantasy Akhada is reportedly planning to sell a ‘significant’ stake to GMR Sports, a GMR Group entity, at a valuation of $160-175 Mn (INR 1,300-1,400 Cr).

The deal is likely to take place in tranches, with GMR topping up in the subsequent rounds, buying out some early backers, Mint reported.

“It is a mix of primary and a small secondary share sale, and some early investors are likely to sell. In subsequent rounds, the valuation will be doubled,” the report cited a source as saying.

Some of Fantasy Akhada’s early backers, angel investors, among others, will exit through the deal, it said.

Founded in 2020 by Amit Purohit, the Gurugram-based fantasy gaming startup lets users create fantasy football and cricket teams. It is backed by commentator Harsha Bhogle who joined the platform in 2020 as an investor and ambassador. It has raised $2.8 Mn funding till now, as per Crunchbase.

Fantasy sports are digital sports engagement platforms, based entirely on real-life sports matches, where users build virtual teams with proxies of real players participating in an upcoming match (or match-day) and compete on real-world statistical performances of these players.

The Indian fantasy sports industry was pegged to have a market size of over INR 34,000 crore, as per a report released by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports and Deloitte last year.

“Over a span of five years, the industry footprint has grown to become the largest in the world and customer acquisition is only ramping up in our sports obsessed nation,” the report said.

There are an estimated 200 fantasy sports operators in India. Some of Fantasy Akahada’s main competitors are gaming unicorns Dream11 and Games24X7.

However, fantasy sports apps have often come under the scanner of various state governments in the country in the past in the absence of uniform regulations.

Recently, the Centre released the draft online gaming rules to oversee online gaming, including fantasy sports. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has proposed a self-regulatory mechanism for online gaming companies in the draft online gaming rules.

“Self-regulatory bodies will be registered with the ministry and may register online games of such online gaming intermediaries who are its members and which meet certain criteria. Such bodies will also resolve complaints through a grievance redressal mechanism,” the ministry said.