Meta In Final Stages Of Investing In Indian Startup Better Opinions

Social media giant Meta is reportedly in the final stages of finalising an investment in Indian betting startup Better Opinions.

According to Techcrunch, Meta is looking to invest up to $3 Mn in Better Opinions’ seed round that could peg the startup at under $25 Mn. 

The report, citing sources familiar with the development, said the negotiations are currently underway and the deal is yet to close. If the deal fructifies, this will be the first seed-stage investment by Meta in the country. 

Better Opinions, founded in 2021 by Samay Jain and Soumyajit Das, is an event-based trading platform that allows users to trade their opinions on sundry topics such as cricket, football, finance, entertainment, among others.

Essentially, users can bet on results of matches, box office collections and earn real cash in lieu of correct predictions. The startup last raised more than $1 Mn in a pre-seed round from marquee names such as Y Combinator, Java Capital, Soma Capital, among others, in February this year. 

Better Opinions CEO Jain told the publication that the startup has raised $2.5 Mn in seed funding so far. It has racked up 6 Lakh users who have traded more than $1.25 Mn on the platform. 

In the fantasy sports format, Better Opinions competes with deep-pocketed players such as unicorn Dream11, Nazara Tech-backed Halapay, Mobile Premier League, among others. 

If the deal materialises, it will be the fourth investment by the social media major in India. Facebook previously invested in social commerce startup Meesho in 2019 and followed it up with capital infusion in edtech platform Unacademy in 2020. 

Previously, Facebook had also pumped in $5.7 Bn for a 9.9% stake in Reliance Industries-owned Jio Platforms.

India is the largest market for Facebook and accounted for nearly 239.65 Mn users at the end of January 2022. Notably, Facebook India’s managing director Ajit Mohan last year told a publication that the social media platform was eyeing early-stage startups for investment. He also said that the company was focused on backing models that could be scaled up globally and not just in India.

The investment comes amidst a renewed investment in the fantasy gaming space in the country. Buoyed by deeper internet penetration and cheaper tariffs, more and more Indians are lining up to sign up for fantasy games that primarily target the cricket-crazy fans in the country.

In March, gaming startup Games24x7 emerged as the 99th unicorn of the country, raising $75 Mn in a funding round led by Malabar India Fund.

Interestingly, Facebook’s interest in the betting space comes at a time when the state governments are trying to regulate the industry.

In 2021, the Karnataka legislature passed amendments to certain laws that effectively prohibited betting and wagering in online games. After a legal tussle between the state government and gaming companies, the Karnataka High Court struck down certain provisions of the law.

Last year, Madras High Court also struck down a law banning online gaming, while Kerala High Court too saw no merit in upholding a ban on online rummy games imposed by the state government.

A draft bill by the Rajasthan government has also increased the anticipation of startups operating in the space. The proposed law does not include skill games such as Rummy, Poker and Ludo, and also suggests setting up a ‘private’ self-regulatory body to regulate the growing industry.