CSK star Deepak Chahar starts his entrepreneurial journey with fantasy sports brand

Cricketer Deepak Chahar starts his entrepreneurial journey and launches fantasy sports platform. Image: Trade Fantasy Game

The passion you see on the field when cricketer Deepak Chahar swings the ball on the cricket pitch is what you feel in his voice when he talks about the first steps in his new entrepreneurial journey.

Looking to life beyond cricket after 18 years of playing the sport, Chahar, who plays for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL), wanted to enter the business world, yet do something around cricket.

“This is why I chose to enter the fantasy sports space with a new company called Trade Fantasy Game (TFG). When we sat and discussed what business we should do where I can also contribute, fantasy sports was the answer,” he said.

“If we would have taken up a business where cricket was not part of it, it would have been difficult for me to contribute. Also, in fantasy sports, cricket is the biggest sport in India. Plus, I am a gamer and play all kinds of card games, including PUBG, among others. So, went ahead in this space," Chahar told Moneycontrol.

He said his wife Jaya Chahar was his pillar of support.

"Before I met with Jaya, I had zero knowledge about business. But I am a good student and I catch things very fast. I got some knowledge from Jaya. And when we decided to be life partners, at the same time we decided to be business partners. I was someone who wanted to do business after I leave cricket. Jaya has a good background in business and we thought that it was the right time to do business together," the cricketer said.

Only 16 days after starting his company, he said his entrepreneurial journey has been good so far. "This is something I want to do after cricket. I have given my entire life to cricket and I have learned a lot. After cricket, I didn't see anything for me. So, I am learning new things. Every journey has ups and downs but things have been exciting," added Chahar.

Fantasy sports 

Jaya Chahar said that to make things simpler for users, the couple had created a six-player cricket squad, unlike other fantasy sports platforms that offer 11-player teams.

"We also added wild card which will be effective during the Indian Premier League because there is a new rule of an impact player in the tournament which lets a team replace a player before the 14th over," said her husband.

The husband-wife duo explained that on TFG there is a wild card entry that lets a gamer/user take in a seventh player on the field for a minimum fee.

"The wild card can replace your lowest performing player in your squad. This helps the gamer to get a higher ranking and also get more rewards," added Jaya Chahar.

She said that they recorded 10,000 installs in two days of the launch, which was during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup finals. They are targeting 1 million downloads by the end of March 2024.

"The target is aggressive but there are the biggest cricket leagues this year that can drive the userbase on the platform. There's IPL, the men's World Cup, and Asia Cup. There are leagues this year where people will look out to play fantasy sports. Plus, we also have a product lineup of casual games," she added.

Investing their money in the new business, estimated to be around Rs 10 crore, Jaya Chahar said TGF was looking to raise funds when they get the right investor.

"We wish to be EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization) positive in our third year. We expect revenue in first year to cross Rs 3.5 crore mark," she said.

She pointed out that fantasy sports was growing at a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent and by 2025 fantasy revenue can touch Rs 1,65,000 crore.

“There are also enablers like 5G coming in and digital payments strengthening. So the opportunity at hand is huge," Jaya Chahar added.

Another brand in the offing 

Deepak Chahar is focussed on the fantasy sports business, but he has plans to expand his brand. "I have many plans and have started a shoe company. I always wanted to create good cricket shoes in India for middle-class people as I come from a middle-class background. While there are such shoes available, they are expensive and in the Rs 10,000 range. I have my own cricket academy where we have 250 students and most of them come from middle-class families who can only afford shoes in the Rs 5,000 range."

This is what DNINE (Chahar's shoe brand) will offer, he said.

The cricketer said he will be wearing his shoe brand during the IPL tournament.

"We are taking the top-down approach for testing the brand as top IPL players along with my brother Rahul Chahar will be wearing the shoes during IPL, " the cricketer said.