Dream11 eyes inventory broking for subsequent innings after gaming ban cripples core enterprise: Report

Dream11 Group, as soon as the undisputed chief in India’s fantasy gaming area, is making ready to make a daring pivot into the nation’s inventory broking business after a authorities ban on on-line cash video games dealt a extreme blow to its major enterprise.

According to a report in Mint newspaper, the Tencent-, TPG-, and Tiger Global-backed unicorn has utilized for a licence to enter the inventory broking enterprise. The transfer comes as Dream11 appears to leverage its huge person base of over 260 million to faucet into India’s fast-expanding retail funding panorama. “The company is looking to capitalize on its captive user base from before the real-money gaming ban. Online equity broking is a natural adjacency,” the Mint reported added.

The authorities’s September ban on on-line cash video games successfully ended Dream11’s paid fantasy sports activities contests — its core income driver. In response, the corporate has since shifted to a free-to-play, ad-supported mannequin, whereas exploring new enterprise avenues to maintain progress.

The regulation goals to curb social and monetary dangers linked to on-line playing, together with stories of suicides amongst gamers who suffered heavy losses. Authorities had additionally raised issues about on-line gaming platforms being misused for cash laundering and terror financing.

The firm’s transfer into inventory broking follows current stories of its plans to foray into wealth administration, signaling a broader pivot in the direction of monetary companies. In August, Dream11 CEO Harsh Jain informed Moneycontrol that “the only way to deal with 95% of your revenue being gone is to build new products that you can monetize in the future.”

It stays unclear whether or not Dream11 intends to launch a reduction broking platform just like Groww or Zerodha, or go for a full-service mannequin, although one market participant steered the corporate is probably going leaning towards the low cost route.Backed by marquee world buyers together with Tencent, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global, TPG, ChrysCapital, TCV, and Alpha Wave Global, Dream11 was final valued at $8 billion and has raised over $1.5 billion since its inception in 2008.