Cricket NFTs platform Rario raises $120 million led by Dream Capital
- ByStartupStory | April 21, 2022
Rario, touted to be the creator of the world’s first cricket NFT platform, on Thursday announced a $120 million Series A funding round led by Dream Capital. Dream Capital is the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of Dream Sports.
The Cricket NFT platform claims to have the largest share of Cricket NFT rights globally through exclusive partnerships with renowned 6 international cricket leagues and a roster of over 900 cricketers. With Dream Capital’s investment and involvement, Rario now gets access to Dream Sports’ 140 million users, who will be offered fiat-only products in India, with the potential to create the largest cricket NFT platform globally.
Alpha Wave Global, previously known Falcon Edge Capital, also participated in the round, joining existing investors such as Presight Capital, Animoca Brands and Kingsway Capital.
The Singapore-based Rario, founded in the year 2021 by IIT Delhi alumni Sunny Bhanot and Ankit Wadhwa, recently signed one of the world’s largest cricket NFT deals, a multi-year exclusive partnership with Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to create an Australian cricket metaverse of collectibles and gaming. Through Rario, Indian sports fans can now sell,buy as well as trade NFTs through fiat-only mediums – bank transfers,credit cards, debit cards,. Since its inception last year, Rario has sold more than 50,000 NFTs to sports fans across 20 countries with Australia, India, the US, and the UK, as its top four markets.
Ankit Wadhwa, co-founder and CEO, Rario, while commenting on this investment, said, “Cricket is the second largest sport in the world with over 1.5 billion fans globally. NFTs are creating new forms of engagement, allowing fans to own and trade digital collectibles. Rario’s global cricket NFT ecosystem will be further strengthened by the 140 million sports fans on Dream Sports.”
Dev Bajaj, chief strategy officer at Dream Sports, said, “DreamCap is glad to partner with Rario to help sports fans engage deeper with their favorite players and teams. Web3 use cases in sports are transformational, and we are looking to back more startups in the space globally with innovative utilities of NFTs.”
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