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Chinese tech giant Tencent is currently in advanced talks to invest in the Mumbai based sports fantasy startup Dream 11, according to top sources familiar with the matter. The investment, which is said to be in the range of $100 million, can possibly prove to be a watershed movement for India’s nascent sports fantasy industry.
Highly reliable sources are claiming that Tencent has already offered term sheet to Dream 11 and has valued the Mumbai based startup at approximately $400-$450 million.
Both Tencent and Dream 11 have declined to comment on the news report.
Dream 11 on its official website claims that over 2 crore users have downloaded their app based gaming platform, which is available for both Android as well as IOS based smartphones. The startup has tied up with NBA, Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament and Indian Super League in order to make its games for engaging.
Dream 11 counts high profile VC firms such as Kalaari Capital among other as its investors. The reports are rife that some of these investors may dilute their stake and make an exit once the deal with Tencent is sealed.
Tencnet’s growing interest in Indian startups
The presence of Chinese companies in Indian startup ecosystem is growing in leaps and bounces and leading this Chinese bandwagon are mostly two companies: Alibaba and Tencent. While Alibaba has been more proactive on this front, Tencent is also catching up in this race to getting hold of the promising startups in India.
The Chinese tech behemoth, which owns the popular Chinese messenger WeChat, has so far invested in unicorn companies like Ola and Hike. Besides, earlier this year it invested in the online music platform Ganna.
In mainland China both Tencent and Alibaba are ferocious competitors in various fields and their increasing investment competition in India is probably replicating the same intensity in one of the fastest growing economy in the world.
Most Indian experts have more or less welcomed the Chinese investment but there have been few dissenting views as well. However, these dissenting views mostly carry political overtone rather than business related concerns.
