CrickPe (Third Unicorn Pvt Ltd), which is Ashneer Grover’s new venture, has raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by ZNL Growth Fund. The funding round also saw participation from 28 other venture and angel investors.

The board at CrickPe issued 1,13,800 shares at a share price of Rs 2,500 each, amounting to Rs 28.45 crore or $3.5 million, as per the documents.

CrickPe | Third Unicorn

Founded by Ashneer Grover, CrickPe will allow players to participate in public, private, or “mega contests” to earn cash prizes. 

First reported by Entrackr, ZNL Growth Fund led the round with Rs 10 crore, as per investment documents. Vevek Ventures Investments and Rishaayu LLP invested Rs 4 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively.

Over two dozen investors, including Sumit Bansal, Darshak Rameshchandra Shah, Harsh Jayesh Shah, and Amit Goyal, collectively invested Rs 12.45 crore in Third Unicorn’s maiden round. As per the documents, the board at CrickPe issued 1,13,800 shares at a share price of Rs 2,500 each, amounting to Rs 28.45 crore or $3.5 million.

The funding round comes as a surprise because Grover had posted that he will bootstrap his new venture Third Unicorn as opposed to his previous venture BharatPe, one of the hyper-funded startups in India. Additionally, the launch of CrickPe, which is a fantasy sports platform for cricket fans, comes ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will start on March 31. 

As per a source, the CrickPe app is in closed beta mode and will soon open to the public. The app, which is yet to launch apps for iOS and Android devices, will directly compete with MPL, Dream11, and other fantasy sports platforms.

India has 507 million gamers, and the gaming industry is expected to reach $8.6 billion in FY27, as per a report by gaming fund Lumikai. Recently, Kratos Studios, a web3 gaming startup launched by former Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal and web3 investor Ishank Gupta, raised Rs 160 crore in a seed round.

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