iWorld
Dream Sports names Dev Bajaj as chief corporate development officer
MUMBAI: Dream Sports, India’s sports technology company with brands such as Dream11, FanCode and DreamX, announced the appointment of Dev Bajaj as chief corporate development officer.
In his new role, Bajaj will lead investments and drive global strategic partnerships in fantasy sports, sportstech, gaming and other opportunistic sectors. He will also work closely with leaders of the Dream Sports companies on future fundraising and strategic business planning.
Dream Sports co-founder and chief executive officer Harsh Jain, says, “We are excited to have Dev onboard to lead our business expansion through investments and partnerships. Dev’s extensive and versatile experience as an investor and entrepreneur over the last decade will help us further build the sports ecosystem in India.”
“I am sure that Dev will be invaluable in identifying strategic partners and scaling potential sports businesses. While Dream11 continues to grow rapidly, Dream Sports is hiring 250+ talented sport enthusiasts this year and actively expanding its portfolio of sports businesses. In the last year, we launched FanCode, a multi-sport aggregator platform with 15 million users already, and DreamX, a sports accelerator powering several new start-ups,” adds Jain.
He has over 17 years of experience across entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity and investment banking. Prior to joining Dream Sports, he was a venture partner with Kalaari Capital evaluating and managing early-stage investments in a variety of sectors including fintech, gaming, sportstech, SAAS, and AgTech.
As an entrepreneur, Bajaj successfully founded and built MITRA, which is now one of India’s successful AgTech start-ups. In 2018, Mahindra & Mahindra began acquiring MITRA. Before starting MITRA, Dev was at Paine Schwartz, a private equity firm in San Francisco and gained in-depth knowledge in investing in mid-stage buyout transactions.
Bajaj says, “Dream11’s 80 million user base is a testament to the Indian sports fans’ desire for deeper and meaningful engagement with their favourite sports. This desire will drive growth in the Indian SportsTech sector over the next decade.”
Bajaj adds, “With $5.5 billion invested in SportsTech in Asia, India leads the way with 40 per cent of all sports-tech startups in Asia, but has received less than 10 per cent of the funding. We believe there are multiple early and growth-stage investment opportunities for us within fantasy sports, gaming and the broader sports-tech ecosystem.”
“I have a lot of respect for Harsh, Bhavit and our management team. We share a common passion with many entrepreneurs in India who want to help Indian Sports with disruptive technology. In my new role, I aim to ensure that start-ups and mid-stage companies find Dream Sports a valuable investor and partner,” adds Bajaj.
Dev began his career with investment banking in the US. Dev has an MBA from INSEAD and B.Sc. from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
