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.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
