Gaming
New iGameLeague allows advertisers to sponsor individual players
MUMBAI: iGameLeague – a platform through which mobile games for all age groups can be played offline or online professionally anytime and anywhere, aims at revolutionizing the industry as it allows advertisers to become sponsors of individual players.
The platform has been created by four experts – serial entrepreneur Devesh Gupta, sales and marketing maverick Nilesh Thakkar, animation and VFX industry veteran Susanta Dutta and Nishith Maheshwari. “IGameLeague is first and sole professional mobile gaming platform in India. How YouTube is a platform for video the same we are for gaming industry with monopoly,” said co-founder NIlesh Thakkar.
“Apart from print, TV, outdoor, radio and online, IGameLeage will add as yet another medium for advertising, where users not only play and win cash, the media partners and advertiser also reach their target audience,” Thakkar shared, adding, “Being a sole platform, brands like Citrus will give our users Rs 50 per players as sponsors. So we bring ready advertiser with us.”
As per Thakkar, the startup is already valued at Rs 70 crore after investment from venture capitals.
Bringing alive the idea of ‘Play Mobile games –Win Real Cash’, the platform has more than 20 popular mobile games on the platform. With a very simple and easy to use interface, players can download, register and start winning cash from their favourite games.
After testing the waters through a beta launch in Mumbai where more than 2300 students from 18 top colleges including HR, Nationals, Thakur, KJ Somaiya, etc participated, iGL is in the process of doing a massive national launch of the platform through Brand, Media and Celebrity partnerships.
Various business houses have evinced interest in buying the territorial rights of various regions of the platform.
Since it has brought to the fore a completely new age medium for mass engagement, it is expected to be lapped up by the Smartphone and IT industry.
Gaming
Dream Sports sees 100 plus exits after gaming ban forces overhaul
Company splits into eight units as real money gaming law hits revenue.
MUMBAI: For a company built on fantasy leagues, reality has suddenly rewritten the rulebook. More than 100 employees have exited Dream Sports, the parent of Dream11, after the company reorganised its operations following India’s ban on real money online gaming. The shake up came after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 came into force in August 2025, prohibiting games where users deposit money expecting winnings. The regulation struck at the heart of the fantasy gaming industry and dramatically affected Dream Sports’ core business, wiping out about 95 percent of its revenue and all of its profits.
In response, the Mumbai based company shifted into what chief executive officer Harsh Jain described as “startup mode”, splitting its operations into eight independent business units in December.
Around 700 employees were reassigned across these newly formed ventures based on their experience and interests. However, roughly 15 percent opted to leave the company.
A spokesperson for Dream Sports said many of those who exited were experienced professionals accustomed to running scaled businesses rather than early stage ventures.
“Since some of these employees were experienced with running high scale businesses and not startups, around 15 percent chose to leave and join other scaled companies or start ventures of their own,” the spokesperson said.
Despite the departures, the company noted that the attrition rate is only slightly higher than its earlier level of around 10 percent before the ban. Dream Sports now has close to 950 employees and is not currently hiring, choosing instead to focus on stabilising its existing workforce.
The restructuring has transformed Dream Sports from a fantasy gaming company into a broader sports entertainment platform. The eight units now operate independently, each focusing on different segments of the sports and technology ecosystem.
These include Dream11, sports streaming platform Fancode, sports travel service DreamSetGo, mobile game Dream Cricket and artificial intelligence initiative Dream Sports AI, which includes sports analytics platform Dream Play.
Other ventures include fintech product Dream Money, open source initiative Dream Horizon and the philanthropic arm Dream Sports Foundation.
As part of cost saving efforts, Dream Sports also relocated its headquarters from Bandra Kurla Complex to Worli earlier this year. The new office, called Dream Sports Stadium, brings teams from its various brands together under one roof to improve collaboration and operational efficiency.
Jain had earlier said the company removed bonus lock in timelines for employees hired in recent years, allowing those who wished to leave to exit with pro rata payouts.
“We want people who are fully into the startup mode and willing to work for it, and we will share that reward if it comes,” he said.
Founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Dream Sports was last valued at 8 billion dollars after raising 840 million dollars in 2021 from investors including Falcon Edge Capital, DST Global, D1 Capital Partners, RedBird Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, TPG and Footpath Ventures.
The new gaming law has forced several companies in the fantasy gaming sector to either shut down or pivot their business models, signalling a significant reset for one of India’s fastest growing digital entertainment industries.
