A sports tech startup lost millions — then made it big. Here’s how its millennial founders staged a comeback

Losing millions of dollars when they were 24 years old was a defining moment for entrepreneurs Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth. 

It felt “pretty terrible,” said Jain. “There’s no other way to put it.”

“Every founder, when you start something, you truly believe that this is going to explode, you’re going to change the world … and ours crashed and burned.” 

But the duo from India also know all about bouncing back from failure.

More than a decade after its launch, their company Dream Sports says it’s now valued at $8 billion dollars, with 160 million users to boot.  

Dream Sports is a sports tech firm from India that owns Dream11, the biggest fantasy gaming platform in the country. 

Everyone who is a sports fan has an opinion of how sports should be played, or what player should be selected, whether the strategy for that game was right or wrong.

Bhavit Sheth

CO-FOUNDER AND COO, DREAM SPORTS

Fantasy sports are online games where participants can create a virtual team of proxies tracking real sports players. Game participants then earn points and win cash prizes based on the real-world performances of these players.  

“Everyone who is a sports fan has an opinion of how sports should be played, or what player should be selected, whether the strategy for that game was right or wrong,” said Sheth. 

“What fantasy sports tries to do is get that opinion into a more structured format.” 

Jain added: “I keep comparing fantasy sports to popcorn for your movie. You have popcorn because it makes your movie better. Fantasy sports does that for sports. It deepens your engagement and makes that sports event 100 times more interesting.” 

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