Tencent courts Indian fantasy sports site Dream11 with $100M offer

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is adding a Mumbai-based daily fantasy sports platform to its list of investments as it window-shops for businesses across Asia.

The Economic Times reported that Tencent is mulling on investing an estimated Rs 656.63 crore ($100 million) in online fantasy sports platform Dream11, with talks now in the advanced stages.

The news of Tencent’s investment in Dream 11 came on the heels of Punjab and Haryana High Court’s ruling that fantasy sports are games of skill and not of chance. Unlike gambling, Justice Amit Rawal pointed out that playing fantasy games required considerable skill, judgement and discretion.

Sources told the news outlet that Tencent, considered to be the world’s fifth-largest internet company, offered a term sheet for a transaction to the daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform. If the deal pushes through, Dream11’s pre-money valuation will climb at around $400 to $450 million.