Gaming
Zupee announces ‘Saara India Chamkega’ initiative
Mumbai: Diwali is as much about spreading joy in others’ lives as it is about celebrating with our loved ones. This Diwali, Zupee, one of India’s leading online skill-based gaming platforms announced its ‘Saara India Chamkega’ campaign to brighten the lives of thousands of senior citizens.
Staying true to the spirit of Diwali, this initiative is designed to gamify the experience of giving with an in-App engagement on the Zupee App, urging players to light up e-diyas as part of the collective effort towards supporting senior citizens.
As part of the week-long campaign until Diwali, Zupee players can simply click on the ‘Saara India Chamkega’ in-App banner and participate by rolling a dice, where each dice roll will lead to the lighting of corresponding number of e-diyas illuminating a digital map of India. For every e-Diya lit, Zupee will contribute towards supporting senior citizens in association with The Earth Saviours Foundation
A real-time tracker will be active throughout the week, showcasing the total number of e-diyas lit. Additionally, players can also invite their friends and families to join in the cause through WhatsApp and Facebook via the Zupee App and website.
The Earth Saviours Foundation, an internationally acclaimed and recognized non-profit organisation to champion this initiative. The initiative aims to impact over thousands of residents as part of The Earth Saviours programmes for senior care and the specially abled.
Zupee’s donation will be channelled by the Earth Saviours NGO in securing essential provisions, including food, hygiene and toiletries, medicine etc for the senior citizens. Furthermore, Zupee’s team joined in the Diwali celebrations with the residents of Earth Saviours and organised a meal at the NGO, located at Bandhwari Village, Distt. Gurugram.
Share the joy of Diwali with a simple tap and light e-diya to show your support for senior citizens. You can do this by either clicking on the ‘Saara India Chamkega’ banner inside the Zupee App or by visiting the Zupee website.
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.
