Gaming
Nazara Technologies, Delta Corp to invest Rs 40 cr in HalaPlay
MUMBAI: Nazara Technologies Ltd and Delta Corp Ltd, which is India based casino gaming company, together will invest Rs 40 crore as part of Series-A funding round in an online daily fantasy sports platform, HalaPlay.
HalaPlay, launched in 2017, has seen an explosive growth in the user base and total transactions since then. It has in the past received investment from Nazara Technologies, Kae Capital, Angel List and other angel investors. The company has seen 10x user growth in the last 12 months and will exponentially grow with over 1 crore active players to play in upcoming cricket season.
Halaplay CEO Swapnil Saurav said, “Getting funding support from two of India’s largest gaming companies instills faith in us as a team taking us a notch higher in the Indian fantasy sports arena. Fantasy sports has been on the rise with the market being estimated to be $1 billion currently and is expected to go up to $5 billion in the next two years and hence this boost could not have come at a better time ensuring and enabling our growth along with.”
Nazara Technologies Ltd CEO Manish Agarwal said, “Nazara invested in HalaPlay in 2017 and we continue to be excited about the growth story of HalaPlay. We are confident that Halaplay with this fresh round of funds will ride the explosive growth of fantasy sports in India.”
Nazara has been actively pursuing opportunities in the interactive sports vertical categories and has invested in mobile gaming companies like Mastermind Sports Limited and Moonglabs Technologies Pvt Ltd apart from HalaPlay Technologies Pvt Ltd. Nazara has also taken a majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia Private Limited and Nodwin Gaming Pvt Ltd in the e sports arena in addition to recent investments in CrimzonCode and NZWorld (NZWorld Kenya Limited) to set up operations of real money gaming in Kenya.
Delta Corp MD Ashish Kapadia said, “Delta believes in the HalaPlay team and their ability to innovate in the daily fantasy sports industry. Their viral growth is proof that they have been able to build a differentiated product that users love. We are excited by their potential, and are confident that this round of funding will help propel them to even greater heights.”
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.
