Dream11- A skill based Fantasy gaming Platform for Cricket fans and other sport lovers.

What is Dream11 all about?
India runs on cricket as a source of entertainment. Cricket sometimes on a lighter note is called as a religion in India that brings people together despite all the religions, cultural backgrounds, races, caste or creed. Almost every kid growing in the early nighties has played cricked or is known to have watched cricket and indulged in the chaos and excitement of the cricket fever that prevails in India. As we become adults, with the hustle and bustle of the busy life it becomes difficult to go outside and play physically.
But we have our phones with us all the time and if there is a way where we could indulge in the playing of the game at the comfort of your house and on your computers or Laptops or even better your phones. There is nothing like it if there is a virtual platform that could help you indulge in playing virtually, not just cricket but also plenty other games like, Hockey, Kabbadi, etc. Having you behind the screens but having the strength and skills of the pro-champions of the actual game. Dream11 brings you exactly this amazing indulgence and experience to a gamer.
How Dream11 came into existence?
Dream11 was founded in 2008 by Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain. It is a platform that equips you with a fantasy sports arena which initially just started out for the most popular game in India, Cricket. But then went on to bring in other games like Hockey, Kabbadi,. Etc. The platform allows you to make virtual teams and select the player that you would want to be on screen and throw different kinds of challenges at each other. Making an extremely exiting source of entertainment and even more of an engaging platform to virtually enjoy playing the different games that are available on the platform of Dream11.

About the founders and the co-founders:
Harsh Jain who is one of the founders of the gaming platform Dream11 studied in the United Kingdom in Sevenoaks High School followed by a Bachelor’s in Science degree majoring in Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and economics from University of Pennsylvania. He then got a master of Business administration degree from Columbia University, Especially the Columbia Business School. His work experience includes Summer Internship with Microsoft after which he returns to India to work with Jai Corp Limited as a Marketing Manager, he then co-founded Red Digital which was a social media agency. He being passionate about sports ever since his childhood, now put that passion to fuel by becoming the Chairman of Indian Federation of Sports gaming in Mumbai. After which he finally went on to found the Dream11 gaming company that let individuals come and indulge in a game they like, Virtually.
Bhavit Sheth got his Bachlor’s in Engineering in Industrial Production from DJ Sanghvi School with a 60% aggregate as he mentions it on his Linkedin profile. Followed by a Diploma from Harvard Summer School in Ecommerce strategies, He then completed his education with a Master’s in Business Administration particularly in Corporate Financing from the Bentley University. To quote his professional experience he worked as a Quality Assurance Intern in Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Followed by a Financial research  Intern in Bilav Information Services LLP and then  co- founding Red Digital with Harsh Jain until the finally founded the Biggest gaming platform in India , Dream11.
 
Valuation and Investment:
Dream11 joined the elite club of unicorns by hitting the $1 Billion mark not by the usual fund rising ethod but by a unique share of stock sharing between the previous shareholders and the current shareholders, Steadview which has but the company under the valuation of about $1 bilion to $1.5 billion according to the Information received by Inventive.  Steadview being one of the the major Investors the other Investors include Kaaalari Investors, Think Investments, Multiples Equity and Tencent, etc.  
Journey so far:
India is a country obsessed with the game of cricket. It is almost considered as a religion now more than a gaming arena. It brings people together from all genders and age group. When there is a cricket match where India is playing it is now less than any grand festival celebration, families get together and prepare snacks and food for the occasion. But can there be a fair business be built around this fact? Well, it was possible because two gentlemen, Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth who were cricket fanatics too came together with their love for Cricket and understanding the demand for cricket in India, They infused their passion, engineering degrees and their MBA experience with their experience in various companies to life and built this amazing platform called Dream11 which is a virtual Fantasy playing platform where people can form teams and enjoy a game of cricket behind the screens as their favourite players form take the playing on the screen front end.
As the founders tried to find a gaming platform and did not find one they realised that it was a great area to set up a business, after researching and finding Investors they had the first move advantage that gave them access to a lot of data of the Cricket fever fanatics, With the high demand and the great youth population the game picked up quite rapidly amongst the youth and the other cricket fans. There were about 2 million downloads after about 2 years of the game being released and then there was a jump to 4 billion and now it is standing at a staggering number of 16 billion downloads in India. Which has wan lot of accolades and brought in a lot of demand from the Investors.
Obstacles faced and overcome
As gambling is banned is India on of the problem was to get permission to promote Dream11 as a safe app. As the gaming platform started gaining some attention the government got involved as it seemed like a gambling platform and was prohibiting the gambling act rule that was passed where any sort of gambling act was a punishable offense. But after the case was taken to court that Dream11 was not considered as an act of Gambling as the platform was built mostly as a game of skill rather a Gambling platform. There by coming out clean and having the platform open for all.
The technical glitches in the platform were one other issue that was being complained about and that was taken care of by providing a cleaner and safer platform gaming as well as the other transactions.
Expansion and future plan
Though there are 16 million downloads so far the founders believe that it forms only 40 % of the total number of Cricket fans that are present in the country and they intend to capture them all along with the expansion in other countries.
Impact on the society
Dream11 is providing a fun gaming platform for the youth of the country that is thoroughly enjoying all the games like Cricket, Hockey and Kabbadi with a single online platform.