Rario, creator of the world’s first cricket non-fungible token (NFT) platform, on Thursday announced a $120 million Series A funding round led by Dream Capital, the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of Dream Sports.
The NFT platform claims to have the largest share of cricket NFT rights globally through exclusive partnerships with six international cricket leagues and a roster of more than 900 cricketers.
With Dream Capital’s investment, 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 Falcon Edge Capital, also participated in the round, joining existing investors Animoca Brands (Global leader in Web3 gaming), Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital.
The Singapore-based Rario, founded in 2021 by IIT Delhi alumni Ankit Wadhwa and Sunny Bhanot, 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 buy, sell, and trade NFTs through fiat-only mediums – credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers. Since 2021, Rario has sold over 50,000 NFTs to sports fans across 20 countries with the US, the UK, Australia, and India as its top four markets.
Commenting on this, Ankit Wadhwa, co-founder and CEO, Rario, said, “Cricket is the second largest sport in the world with more than 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.”
Speaking on the investment, Dev Bajaj, chief strategy officer, 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.”
Source: Mint