NFT Cricket Platform Rario Raises $120M in Series A Round Led by Dream Capital

Rario, a cricket non-fungible token (NFT) platform, has announced that it has secured $120 million in a Series A funding round led by Dream Capital, the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of Dream Sports. Other participants in the funding round included Alpha Wave Global, formerly known as Falcon Edge Capital, and existing investors Animoca Brands (A global leader in Web3 gaming), Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital.

Rario, which is the world’s first cricket NFT platform, revealed that they boast the largest share of cricket NFT rights globally via exclusive partnerships with six international cricket leagues coupled with a roster of over 900 cricketers. The company also has over 30 exclusive brand ambassadors including the captain of the Australian cricket team, Aaron Finch, Faf Du Plessis, and Jason Holder amongst others.

Rario allows Indian fans to trade officially licensed moments from cricket matches on the blockchain. Indian sports fans can also use Rario to purchase, sell, and trade NFTs using fiat-only methods such as credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers. Rario has sold over 50,000 NFTs to sports fans in 20 countries since 2021, with the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and India being its top four markets.

The NFT platform produces NFT series for the Hero Caribbean Premier League, Lanka Premier League, Abu Dhabi T10 League, and Legends League Cricket, Lanka League.

Dev Bajaj, the Chief strategy officer of Dream sports in a press release on Thursday stated that Dream Capital’s partnership with Rario seeks to help sports fans engage deeper with their favorite cricket team. “DreamCap is glad to partner with Rario to help sports fans engage deeper with their favorite players and teams. Web3 use cases in sports are transformational, and we are looking to back more startups in the space globally with innovative utilities of NFTs,” he stated

The latest partnership also gives Rario access to Dream Sports’ 140 million users, who will be offered fiat-only products in India, with the potential to create the largest cricket NFT platform globally.

Ankit Wadhwa, co-founder, and CEO, of Rario, after the Series A round stated:

“Cricket is the second largest sport in the world with more than 1.5 billion fans globally. NFTs are creating new forms of engagement allowing fans to own and trade digital collectibles. Rario’s global cricket NFT ecosystem will be further strengthened by the 140 million sports fans on Dream Sports.”

Founded in 2021, the Singapore-based company has since grown to become a powerhouse and recently signed a multi-year exclusive partnership with Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to create an Australian cricket metaverse. This will be its first official licensing partnership with a national cricket governing body.

India-based cricket NFT platforms are booming now with investors willing to throw heavy money on them.  Cricket NFT marketplace FanCraze was recently reported to be raising around $100 million in a Series A funding round.