In less than a month of its launch, former BharatPe MD Ashneer Grover’s fantasy cricket platform CrickPe has witnessed about 10 Lakh downloads.
Talking about CrikPe’s performance on Twitter, Grover revealed that the platform has seen INR 7.5 Cr overall winnings and INR 60 lakh earnings of cricketers.
CrickPe was launched under Grover’s new venture Third Unicorn last month, before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
CrickPe allows users to create a fantasy cricket team and compete with friends on the app, a model similar to other fantasy sports apps. Users can also participate in group competitions against other players in a ranked match.
Further, the app also allows users to compete with real cricketers and their fantasy teams. CrickPe also lets users pay real money to cricketers for their performance on the pitch.
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Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri established Third Unicorn in June last year, while CrickPe was registered with the Registrar of Companies on January 28 this year.
In the fantasy gaming space, CrickPe competes with the likes of Dream11, MPL, Games24x7’s my11circle as well as a host of other fantasy sports startups in India. However, serial entrepreneur Grover seems to be unperturbed about the competition.
“What Dream11, MPL spends in one marketing campaign is what I have just raised so far. So I am going to compete with these companies through innovation and not capital.” he told Inc42 in an exclusive interview.
CrickPe parent Third Unicorn raised $5 Mn (INR 40 Cr) at a valuation of close to $36 Mn (INR 290 Cr). Grover claimed CrickPe is aiming to become profitable by the end of this IPL season.
According to a report by market research firm Redseer Strategy Consultants, gross gaming revenue from fantasy sports during the IPL 2023 is estimated to grow 30-35% to INR 2,900-3,100 Cr.
Transacting users during the IPL season is also expected to grow by 25-30% to reach 68 Mn in 2023 from 55 Mn in 2022. Further, the average revenue per user is expected to grow from INR 410 in IPL 2022 to INR 440 per user in IPL 2023.
India’s fantasy sports market is projected to grow from INR 34,600 Cr in FY21 to an estimated INR 1,65,000 Cr by FY25, as per a Deloitte report. Cricket continues to remain the highest revenue contributor for the fantasy sports industry.
