Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth introduced fantasy cricket in India in 2008, building an online business around the fan pastime, an obsession even, of conjuring up fictional teams. More than a decade later, their venture, Dream11, became the country’s first gaming unicorn.

At $4.2 billion in FY21, the fantasy-sports space is starting to look like a different beast today. And so does Mumbai-headquartered Dream11 — it has grown to become the Dream Sports group with multiple companies in its fold and a raft of strategic investments.

From the days when the founders looked into every minor detail, there are now senior executives to lead the charge, enabling the two to concentrate on the big picture.

“Sheth and I ran everything from 2008 till the time we got funding. Then we began hiring. By 2019, we had largely built our CXO team,” Jain told The CapTable. “For 10 years, we had had no time to breathe. Now, we have other people to manage things. This gave us time to have a larger vision for Dream Sports and develop the CXO ranks of portfolio companies.”