In a cricket-loving country like India, where fans worship their favorite players and treat matches as festivals, Harsh Jain saw an opportunity not just to watch the game—but to play it differently. What started as a simple idea from a sports-obsessed college student soon grew into a billion-dollar revolution called Dream11.
Harsh wasn’t always the CEO of India’s first fantasy sports unicorn. He was just a curious young boy who loved sports, especially football and cricket. While studying engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Harsh became addicted to fantasy football. He enjoyed picking players, building teams, and competing with friends—not just watching the match, but feeling involved in it.
When he returned to India, he asked a simple question: Why don’t we have this for cricket?
That question sparked the idea for Dream11, co-founded with his childhood friend Bhavit Sheth in 2008. But the road wasn’t easy. The market didn’t understand fantasy sports. Internet access was limited, and the concept of paying to play online games was still foreign. For years, the startup barely made a dent.
But Harsh believed in the dream. In 2012, they made a big pivot—switching from season-long fantasy leagues to daily fantasy contests, starting with cricket. It changed everything. Suddenly, fans could play every day, win rewards, and feel more connected to the matches they loved.
By 2018, Dream11 had over 45 million users. In 2019, it became India’s first gaming unicorn—a rare feat in a space that many had written off. Harsh had turned his passion into a national movement.
Today, over 200 million users use Dream11. But Harsh didn’t stop there. Under his leadership, Dream Sports was born—a sports-tech ecosystem that includes:
- FanCode for sports streaming and merchandise
- DreamSetGo for travel experiences to global sports events
- Dream Game Studios for creating new games
- Dream Capital, a $250 million fund supporting sports and fitness startups
His team also launched Dream Sports Foundation, helping more than 4,000 young athletes across India chase their dreams.
And now, Harsh is taking the dream further. Dream Sports is exploring NFTs, Web3 games, and fan tokens—digital innovations that could redefine how fans engage with sports. He’s also leading India’s first professional rugby sevens team, the Mumbai Dreamers, hoping to give lesser-known sports their moment to shine.
Behind the CEO title is still that same sports-loving guy—now a father, an entrepreneur, and a leader who believes in building for the future. Harsh Jain didn’t just build a company; he built a way for millions to feel the joy, thrill, and strategy of sports in a whole new way.
And the best part? He’s just getting started.
