Madhav Chanchani
Madhav Chanchani
As valuations surge and liquidity reaches record levels, entrepreneurs are increasingly formalizing their investments and roping in professionals. Jain joins Nykaa’s Nayar family, Freshworks's Girish Mathrubootham and Razorpay’s founders, who are taking different approaches to investing
September 17, 2021
7 MINS READHarsh Jain, cofounder and CEO of India’s largest online fantasy gaming platform, Dream11, has set up an investment fund to back early- and mid-stage startups, according to two sources directly briefed on the matter.
Jain and his family are likely to invest $100 million for setting up the fund. The total investment could go as high as $200 million, the sources said, which would make the fund potentially the largest to be set up by a new economy entrepreneur. The corpus, which will also include capital from outside investors, is still being finalized and the numbers could change.
The development comes as Dream11 prepares to close a new round of funding at a valuation of $8 billion in the coming weeks, which is expected to be primarily a secondary sale of shares. Dream11 was valued at $2.5 billion in September last year. A recent order by the Supreme Court has increased investor interest in the online gaming sector as potential legal issues get cleared.
Jain is the son of Anand Jain, considered a close confidante of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and having interests in real estate and manufacturing through Jai Corp.
The Mumbai-based entrepreneur joins a growing list of India’s new economy founders who have either set up venture funds or are formalizing their startup investments. This comes at a time when capital is pouring into startups at a record pace and soaring valuations in both public and private markets are generating record wealth.
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