It might seem like an easy decision for most: choosing sustainability would appear to be an obvious choice. A country where cricket isn’t only a sport but a religion, and where passion for games runs as wide and deep as the Ganges, Ashish Hemrajani’s
Dream11 hasn’t merely dived into a booming market—it’s invented a whole new industry. Spearheading this cosmic endeavor is Harsh Jain, a budding entrepreneur who changed the way millions of Indians connect with sports, switching gears from passive viewers to enthusiastic players. His odyssey is an inspiring tale of vision, tireless determination in the face of regulatory wars, and crafting a strong sports technology ecosystem literally from the turf up.
As of 2025, Dream11 is not just one of the top six fantasy sports companies in the world; it’s the generic term for fantasy sports in India, a dominant force that has democratized sports engagement and unlocked what some predict to be a $ 60 billion economy. It’s a testament to Jain’s belief in an idea that most people laughed at – an idea that turned out to completely transform how Indian fans engage with their favorite games.
The Formative Years & Early Influences: A Passion for Sports and Tech
Harsh Jain’s upbringing was a key ingredient in the powerful mix of technological know-how, business smarts, and sports fanaticism that created. The son of Anand Jain, one of India’s major entrepreneurs and a longtime Trump advisor, Mukesh Ambani—Chairman of Reliance Industries and Harsh’s father—satiated large-scale business logic. He was intent on focusing on something different, something separated from his family’s old-world enterprises.
His academic journey began as an engineer. He went on to study Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, a program that provided him with a deep technical understanding of technology and systems. This was followed by an MBA at Columbia Business School, where he developed his strategic thinking, financial acumen, and leadership skills. That combination of technical and business education would be crucial in helping guide the stormy waters of a new, developing industry.
Most importantly, it was his love for the game that lit the fire for Dream11. A passionate fantasy sports buff in his own right, Harsh had been playing fantasy football and basketball on offshore sites for years. He knew that fantasy sports had the ability to hook fans more deeply and interactivity than just watching the game on TV. The discontent over not having a strong, India-centric fantasy experience, particularly for cricket, proved to be the strongest driver. He envisioned his startup as a way to bring this fun and innovative format to the general public in India, the world’s most passionate sports nation with few channels for fans to engage directly.
Dream11’s Genesis: A Gamble on Fantasy Sports (and a Whole Lot of Waiting)
That Dream11 concept would take real form in 2008 when Harsh Jain joined forces with childhood friend and fellow sports lover, Bhavit Sheth. Their first attempt was a relatively low-tech affair, basically a glorified fantasy football experience, modeled after Western equivalents. Boy, talk about bad timing. At the time of their founding in 2008, India’s internet penetration was in its infancy, smartphone adoption was negligible and the notion of online gaming, let alone fantasy sports, was completely foreign. Fan sports consumption was largely linear – watching games on TV.
The first few years were a time of great tumult and rapid turnaround. The idea was ahead of its time, too specialized for the Indian milieu. They had run through multiple iterations, such as a social media hub for sports enthusiasts, to even just a basic gaming portal, with nothing ever really resonating. Funding was hard to come by, and skepticism was certainly in the air. More than a few considered fantasy sports just a passing fad or even worse, tied it incorrectly to gambling.
The ‘aha!’ moment happened independently for them simultaneously when they tapped into the colossal, untapped potential of cricket. Though football was popular with the working class, cricket united the rich and poor, young and old, and men and women across communities in India. So, when the founders of Dream11 had an opportunity to focus on one specific kind of fantasy – T20 cricket – they took it, knowing the incredible mass appeal of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and international T20 matches. They happily sweat every small detail, creating a clean, inviting UI that would allow even the least experienced user to confidently build an impressive fantasy roster. The main draw was the opportunity for users to apply their cricket expertise to gauge player performances and earn cash prizes, making watching the matches even more exhilarating.
This relentless obsession to deliver the best possible cricket experience, matched with a dedication to user experience, started to pay off. While the early funding rounds proved challenging, the founders’ grit and determination ultimately won over the first investors, allowing them to see through the long-game vision. They put up with years of low development, demonstrating the market, educating customers, and ready step by step to construct the blueprints of a unique trade.
The Growth Trajectory, author Steven Pedigo. Catching the Cricket Wave and Smartphone Boom
While 2018 was indeed an inflection point for Dream11, the real inflection point came between 2014-2017. That was the perfect alignment with two other epochal changes in India:
- Smartphone Penetration Explosion & Data Becoming Super Cheaper The arrival of inexpensive smartphones and even the launch of ultra-cheap mobile data (pioneered by Reliance Jio) added hundreds of millions of Indians online in a flash. This digital revolution was the rocket fuel Dream11 required, taking it from a small online hobby to a widespread mobile phenomenon.
- The Indian Premier League (IPL) had taken root deeply enough as a mega yearly event to unite India like no other, so much so that even COVID forced its postponement in March. Dream11 had strategically made the most of the IPL’s unrivaled popularity, tying its contest to the IPL’s schedule and almost seamlessly interlinking its competitions into the league’s competitions. That real-time excitement of IPL matches translated seamlessly into the real-time, live-scoring, head-to-head competitive thrill of fantasy cricket.
Dream11’s emphasis on user experience made all the difference. The app felt really intuitive, letting users quickly set up teams, update their rosters, and follow along with live scores and leaderboards. They sidestepped discussions of profitability and regulatory challenges by pouring billions into brash marketing and brand development, partnering with popular cricketers, rolling out massive advertising blitzes during India’s major sporting tournaments, and quickly establishing Dream11 as an image synonymous with the fervor, excitement…
The platform took advantage of this opportunity and smartly expanded its base beyond cricket. It not only did extremely well in expanding into fantasy football, kabaddi, basketball, hockey, and more—creating a well-rounded fantasy portfolio that catered to various sporting interests. Elements such as community discussion boards, social media integration, and juicy prize pools took fan engagement to the next level, turning previously passive viewers into active participants and stakeholders in each game.
The fast-paced user growth and revenue skyrocketing spurred interest from regional and global investors. Dream11 went on to reach a number of notable funding milestones, leading up to its unicorn status in 2019 when it became the first Indian gaming company to reach that valuation. Prominent investors including Tencent, Steadview Capital, Kalaari Capital, and Multiples Alternate Asset Management invested large sums into the company, reaffirming its leadership across the market and growth potential. Managing this hyper-scaling meant ongoing investment in strong tech infrastructure and sophisticated fraud prevention technology while managing the difficult legal and compliance landscape of online gaming.
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Winning the Regulatory Gauntlet: The Legal Fight and Its Consequences
The perhaps most defining aspect of Harsh Jain’s journey with Dream11 has been the constant regulatory labyrinth he was forced to maneuver through. In a country where gambling is mostly illegal, the fundamental problem for Dream11 was to clearly and unmistakably differentiate fantasy sports from betting or gambling. This was based on the premise that fantasy sports are a “game of skill,” and therefore not a “game of chance.2.”
In pursuing this modus operandi, Dream11 fought these legal battles on a thorough, methodical, and systematic basis and largely won. Multiple High Courts, including those of Punjab & Haryana, Bombay, and Rajasthan, ruled in its favor, affirming that fantasy sports, as operated by Dream11, constitute a game of skill, based on users’ knowledge of players, teams, and match conditions, rather than pure luck. These rulings were subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court of India, creating important legal precedents for the fantasy sports industry.
This legal clarification was nothing short of monumental. It legitimized the industry, allowing for mainstream advertising, opening the door to even more investor confidence, and clearing the path for the establishment of thousands of other daily fantasy sports platforms to flourish. Harsh Jain’s testimony as an industry stakeholder Although Shivaram was a key actor, Harsh Jain himself emerged as an organic public champion for the nascent fantasy sports industry. Even with these wins, the regulatory world is always changing, and some states may at times pass targeted bans or new licensing requirements, allowing Dream11 to continue operating only with perpetual watchfulness and adaptability.
Creating a Sports Tech Ecosystem
It wasn’t long before, under Harsh Jain’s leadership, Dream11 became a lot more than a fantasy sports platform. Its parent company Dream Sports swiftly transformed into an umbrella entity for a deeper sports technology ecosystem, with a goal to serve every aspect of the Indian sports fan’s attention span. Chief among these diversifications are
- FanCode: A digital sports destination that features live streaming of sports events, hyper-local sports news, original content, and merchandise. It took Dream Sports into the heart of direct-to-consumer content consumption and e-commerce for sports fans.
- Dream Capital, is the venture capital and private equity arm of Dream Unlimited. A corporate venture arm of ownership group Fenway Sports Group, established in 2021, investing in seed and series-stage sports technology companies. We believe this strategic initiative empowered Dream Sports to imbue industry-wide innovation, stake a claim on upcoming trends, and ultimately acquire synergistic businesses.
- DreamSetGo → The world’s leading premium sports travel and experiences platform, providing access and packages to the world’s biggest sporting events, connecting fans to the unforgettable memories of live sports experiences.
This strategic expansion shows Jain’s vision to build an integrated fan engagement platform, one that extends far past just fantasy contests. Supported by cutting-edge deep data analytics on fan engagement sentiment, Dream Sports can customize offerings, discover powerful incremental revenue streams for sports leagues and franchises, and meaningfully activate previously under-engaged demographics, all of which are making meaningful contributions to the burgeoning Indian sports economy.
Increased competition and technology adoption are two major challenges going forward.
Dream11 remains in first placeThe road ahead is fraught with challenges. Competition continues to heat up from rival fantasy platforms such as MyTeam11 and Mobile Premier League (MPL). Moreover, the overall online gambling landscape has continued to change at a rapid pace, with new formats and operators competing for the same consumer attention.
The regulatory evolution is the regulatory equivalent of death and taxes, constant it is. The need to adjust to different state-specific regulations, possible future changes in taxation structures for gaming, and responsible gaming standards will lead to the need for ongoing interaction with lawmakers. Responsible gaming and addiction prevention are equally important social obligations that Dream11 has long championed through its proactive initiatives and anti-addiction features built into its platform.
With rapid market evolution occurring regularly, the ability to sustain innovation and continue to engage users is critical. To stay ahead of the competition, Dream11 has to constantly improve its platform, add more features, and expand into new sports or new formats of play.
Looking forward, with Harsh Jain at the helm, the vision for Dream Sports will surely take a more robust global shape along with an innovation drive for new gaming formats. Building Web3 and blockchain technologies into the mix will enhance fan engagement and digital collectibles. Having set the pace for India’s digital sports revolution, this company is now set to lead innovation further and push the boundaries of how fans interact and engage.
A Legacy Measured by Talent and Imagination
Harsh Jain’s inspirational entrepreneurial journey with Dream11 is a marquee example of what vision, entrepreneurial tenacity, and industry disruption can do. Not only did he build a powerful company, but he also brought legal recognition to a mode of digital entertainment that’s kept millions of sports fans glued to their screens and, much more importantly, turned them into active participants. By combining a profound understanding of fandom with some of the most innovative technology in the world, he transformed engagement and made a transformational economic impact.
Today, Dream11 is not just an iconic Indian digital success story but a testament to how being a pioneer in the flourishing fantasy sports landscape and having the vision and the drive to pursue it through the toughest of times can help you conquer all odds. Harsh Jain’s legacy isn’t just billions of transactions processed, but millions of dreams fulfilled, shaping the spirit of how India lives and loves its sports today.
