Founders of Cricket NFT Startup Rario, Backed by Dream11 and Sachin Tendulkar, Exit Amid Investor Pressures
- ByStartupStory | September 9, 2023
The founders of Rario, a non-fungible token (NFT) startup with backing from Dream11 and strategic investment from Sachin Tendulkar, are reportedly leaving the company. According to a TechCrunch report, citing sources, Ankit Wadhwa, CEO of Rario, and Sunny Bhanot, Rario CTO “are being pushed out as investors at the startup, including largest backer Dream11” Rario, the world’s first cricket NFT platform, had previously raised $120 million in funding, with Dream Capital, the VC and M&A arm of Dream Sports, leading the investment round.
These developments at Rario coincide with cost-cutting measures at Dream Sports, the parent company of Dream11.
In April this year, the Consumer Online Foundation wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to investigate the business activities of Rario and its compliance with Indian taxation laws with respect to virtual digital assets, cryptocurrency, and anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
Bejon Kumar Mishra, Managing Trustee, Consumer Online Foundation said in the letter to Sitharaman that as per its official website, Rario refers to itself as the world’s first and largest licensed digital cricket collectible platform, dedicated to bringing the fans closer to the sport like never before.
In reality, Rario is an NFT and Cryptocurrency platform, a fact which is not obvious to a visitor to their website.
“Our initial study has revealed that Rario violated the applicable taxation provisions of virtual digital assets and cryptocurrency in India. It is observed that in all transactions in Rario, the consumers are misled in a deceptive manner by adopting unethical marketing practices, which are not only deemed as unfair trade practices but also violating the rights of the consumer,” Mishra had said.
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