Back in July 2022, Ashneer Grover unveiled his new startup The Third Unicorn, and asked interested people to join his company. At that time, he didn’t confirm what his startup will do. Now we know that his company will run a fantasy sports platform CrickPe.
Third Unicorn has also raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by ZNL Growth Fund. The funding also saw the participation of 28 other ventures and angel investors. The board has issued 1,13,800 shares at a share price of Rs 2,500 each. Grover has also roped Aseem Ghavri as the co-founder of his new venture.
His company has also filed a trademark application for the word ‘CrickPe’ and its logo. There’s also a website that is currently in development and has plenty of dummy or placeholder text.
When Grover first announced his new venture, he asked VCs to stay away from the company and confirmed that he would only use ‘desi/self-earned capital.’ Now he has already raised funds from a VC firm. It will be interesting to see how many further rounds his company raises in the coming years.
The launch of CrickPe comes ahead of the Indian Premier League. We can expect the launch of CrickPe apps before IPL 2023 begins. CrickPe will compete directly against Dream11, MPL, and other fantasy sports platforms. Dream11 has shown us how fantasy sports platform can become a profitable business if planned properly.
