Third Unicorn, the new venture of BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain, has launched a cricket-focused fantasy sports app called CrickPe, to take on rivals such as Dream11, Mobile Premier League (MPL) and Games24x7's My11Circle.
This launch comes ahead of the marquee Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament that is set to begin next week. Grover announced this development on Twitter on March 23.
CrickPe allows players above 18 years of age to create a virtual team of cricket players and enter paid contests to earn cash prizes based on their performance in real-life games. People can also create private groups to play with a limited group of friends as well as participate in contests to win rewards.
CrickPe will levy a 10 percent platform fee of the total funds received for any public or private contest. The platform will also offer free contests for people to practice and hone their skills.
CrickPe is targeting the upcoming IPL tournament for its launch and is currently allowing users to enter into contests for IPL matches that are starting from March 31, 2023. Moneycontrol had reported this move in February 2023.
IPL tournaments are typically crucial for fantasy sports platforms as they witness peak usage from players and also help in significant user acquisitions to grow their respective bases.
Rewards for cricketers
One of the key features that seems to currently differentiate CrickPe from its rivals is the ability for users to send cash rewards to their favourite cricketers, in what appears to be inspired by people tipping their favourite creators across different creator platforms. People can currently send cash rewards ranging from Rs 100 - Rs 100,000 per cricketer per financial year.
In case the cricketer accepts the cash reward, CrickPe will take a 10 percent fee from the transaction starting June 2023. If the cricketer refuses the cash reward or doesn't claim it for a period of 90 days, it will be returned to the user's CrickPe account.
In its terms, CrickPe however notes that they are not acting as "agents of cricketers" and are "not under a binding contract to collect any money on their behalf". Crickpe shall "solely be acting as your agent in offering this cash reward", it said.
Rising growth of India's gaming market
Grover had incorporated Third Unicorn with his wife Madhuri Jain in July 2022, following an acrimonious exit from BharatPe. In January 2023, Chandigarh-based entrepreneur Aseem Ghavri disclosed that he is the third co-founder at the firm.
In the same month, Grover had stated in a LinkedIn post that the company would use only "desi/self-earned capital," and restrict its team size to a maximum of 50 employees. The company has raised $4 million in seed funding led by ZNL Growth Fund, according to a Mint report.
This launch comes at a time when India's gaming sector has seen unprecedented growth in terms of app downloads and revenue as a result of pandemic-induced home confinement in recent years, which has led to Indian consumers becoming more comfortable spending money on mobile games.
Revenue in the country's gaming sector increased from $2 billion in FY21 to $2.6 billion in FY22 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent to $8.6 billion in FY27, according to a report by gaming and interactive media venture fund Lumikai. Real-money games continue to be the largest revenue source for the industry, accounting for about 57 percent of the industry's FY22 revenues.
Dream11, the flagship brand of sports tech firm Dream Sports, currently dominates the country's fantasy sports segment with over 90 percent market share, according to industry estimates.
