Dream11 acqhires fantasy cricket stocks startup Sixer

Founded in 2018, Sixer is a fantasy cricket game where prominent cricket players are presented as virtual stocks that people can buy and sell. Some of the players mentioned on the website include such as Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, and Suryakumar Yadav.

One can track player performance, build a portfolio of players, choose how many fantasy stocks to buy in each player and see how their value fluctuates based on their on-field success. The price of a player is based on the batting, bowling and fielding score they get in each game.

"Use your knowledge of the game and your portfolio building skills to earn real money", the app description of Sixer reads. The startup had raised $3 million from investors such as Bullpen Capital, Genting Ventures and Velo Partners in June 2021.

"Our new partnership with Dream11 gives us the unique opportunity to elevate what we have built so far to unprecedented levels...Together with Dream11, the Sixer platform will experience accelerated growth and we will be able to provide even more exciting features for our community" the email read.

Makhija also said in the email that Dream11 has "highly valued the cutting edge innovation that Sixer's sports market brings and similarly believes that Sixer can be the future of fantasy sports"

This acquisition comes at a time when the government has imposed the top GST slab of 28 percent on the full face value of player deposits, irrespective of whether it is a game of skill or chance, starting October 1.

Industry executives have said that the new rates would increase a company's tax burden by 350 percent-400 percent, severely impacting the growth trajectory of the sector.

GST authorities have also sent retrospective tax notices to a slew of real-money gaming companies including Dream Sports in recent weeks, which many industry stakeholders believe will sound the death knell for the nascent but fast growing sector.

Moneycontrol reported on September 26 that Dream Sports has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court challenging a show cause notice issued by tax authorities for alleged GST evasion and non-payment of 28 percent GST on the face value of bets.

Sources told Moneycontrol that the overall GST demand against Dream Sports could go up to as high as Rs 40,000 crore or even higher.

Over the years, Dream Sports has backed a range of startups through its corporate venture and M&A arm Dream Capital, that has a corpus of $250 million to invest in sports, gaming and fitness-tech startups.

Among its portfolio startups include cricket NFT platform Rario, sports venue booking platform Khelomore, sports brand Elevar, esports startup SoStronk, health and online fitness marketplace Fittr, and fintech stock trading platform Marketwolf.