Gaming
Anuj Tandon announces departure from JetSynthesys as gaming CEO
MUMBAI: He’s game to get a move on Anuj Tandon, the CEO and investor of gaming at JetSynthesys has decided to hang up his boots at the company. As CEO of gaming, Anuj led and managed various gaming assets of JetSynthesys including its game studio, investments and global partnerships, esports (Skyesports), Nautilus Mobile, Jetapult, Nodwin and Web3 ventures.
He spent two years at India’s foremost gaming firm as its CEO, also being a board observer at Nautilus and Jetapul. Prior to that, he was head (India & Mena regions) of corporate development & investments at Krafton where he led its investments in Pratilipi, FRND, Nautilus Mobile, KukuFM, Nodwin, Loco, One Impression, among others.
A hard core software enthusiast Anuj began his career at Infosys working as a developer, then a solution designer for four years before jumping to Tech Mahindra for a short stint of six months in end-2009. He then co-founded his own studio Rolocule Games which he ran for five years before it was acquired by Dream 11. Nazara Games was his next stop for a year where he headed mobile game publishing & marketing till 2016. He then helped Chinese company Yozu Interactive to set up Yoozoo Games as its CEO and stayed there for four years. And then came his Krafton shift where he oversaw its investments in various companies.
Anuj is a well-known figure in the games industry and observers are all eager to know what his next initiative will be.
However, he was effusive in his praise while posting his departure from JetSynthesys on Linkedin this morning. Said he: “.. I would like to thank Rajan Navani for being the visionary to create one of the most important companies in digital media and gaming in India and offering me the opportunity to work as CEO gaming.”
He then went on to thank the rest of his colleagues at the various studios and companies he oversaw.
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.
