Have you played fantasy sports, or watched your friend or family member playing it? If you question its popularity, fantasy sports leagues draw millions of players each year, and with good reasons. The reason what makes it so fun is the bragging rights. You are excited about owning and managing your team, socializing with other sports fans, and reaping great rewards with little investments. And you experience thrill unlimited when you compete and defeat your friendly league rivals, whether they are your friends, colleagues or family members.
Fantasy Akhada, the Gurugram-based fantasy sport platform, was launched in January 2020 by Amit Purohit. This Indian startup provides users with a platform to play and win exciting contests in fantasy cricket and football. It is a customer centric platform that offers various game play options aiming to enhance the experience of sports fans across the country. Their platform is backed by the Voice of Cricket – Harsha Bhogle, who has not just joined as a Brand Ambassador but also believed in the vision of the Founding Team and decided to join them as a strategic investor. When Amit and Harsha noticed that a lot of other operators focused on quizzes and alternate real money gaming options, they wanted their platform to be based solely on fantasy sport and they decided to go with the name ‘Fantasy Akhada’. The term ‘Akhada’ in Hindi means Arena, where the players test their skills and strengths.
This fantasy sports platform is designed in such a way that the real fun unfolds when you start getting your skin in the game and use your skill and understanding to manage your own sports team to compete with others. Coupled with this, you get an opportunity to earn real money, too! Focus on customer delight is the No.1 priority of this startup. Everybody wins on this platform – either through real cash or coins. The players get maximum ROI as the platform charges low commission on contests. The platform hosts the sports hub of Daily Fantasy Sports, Predictions and Match Club. The startup prides itself of having a user-friendly interface and the industry-best referral system.
“Our low commissions across contests make us a much-loved brand once the user engages with Akhada. Additionally, we have innovative gameplay options like Predictions (for casual fans), Normal Daily Fantasy Sports (for the core TG) and Match Club, a combined games fantasy sports format (for the slightly evolved sports fans),”
– Amit Purohit, Founder
Dedicated 24×7 Customer Service coupled with quick turnaround time across services attracts fantasy sports players towards their platform. The startup aims to be the go-to destination for all fantasy sports users this IPL and will announce cash prizes to users as part of IPL leaderboards.
The COVID-19 pandemic had its own set of challenges for Fantasy Akhada. The month of April was dismal as there were no games to host. However, since they were just starting up, it also was a blessing in disguise. The startup has overcome its COVID related challenges now.
Fantasy Akhada has raised Rs 5 crore in equity funding through Prime Securities Limited. With the new investment round, to date, the startup has raised close to $1 million in funding.
Fantasy Akhada’s funding comes right before the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL), which is scheduled to begin on September 19.
“The latest round of funding will be used in enhancing our tech capabilities, driving user acquisition during the most important time of the year, and investing in areas that ensure we achieve our mission of being the most customer-centric platform in the country. We could not have asked for a more opportune moment to raise our next round, just before the IPL. The next two years will see a marquee T20 tournament every six months, and we aim to speed up our growth journey, and Prime Securities is the best partner we could have asked for in this phase.”
– Amit Purohit, Founder
“Fantasy Akhada is a group of hard-core sports lovers. They are young and ambitious, and I enjoy working with young people.”
– Harsha Bogle, Brand Ambassador
Besides expanding to other sports like kabaddi, basketball, the platform will use the fresh round of funds to enhance the prize pool of guaranteed mega contests.
According to a report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), Fantasy sports platforms have seen a revenue jump of 160% to INR 2,400 Cr in FY20. And this number is only set to increase with the growing number of digital population in India.