HalaPlay, a startup in the online fantasy sports segment, has received a funding round from Kae Capital and Nazara Games. The amount funded is not in the public domain yet.
HalaPlay has factored in a revenue model from the very beginning. Another important factor is that the platform offers a range of domestic and international leagues. These include the English Premiere League (EPL), La Liga, Champions Trophy, World Cup, Euro Cup, Copa America in football and all Indian domestic leagues in Kabaddi, apart from domestic ODIS, T20s and test matches in cricket.
HalaPlay already boasts of 200,000 registered users in their site. The company claims around 30,000 to 40,000 of these get on and play each month and spend about Rs 300 to Rs 400 each. HalaPlay earns 10% to 15% of this and the rest goes to the respective leagues.
There’s a lot of technology built into the platform such as data analytics and machine learning. This is meant to help the users to build teams and improve the playing skills and so on. In fantasy games, you have to select your team and this requires some knowledge of the game and players their form and performance and HalaPlay helps with these and makes the game more immersive. The target customers for HalaPlay are typically the young 25 to 30- year olds and they definitely don’t mind spending these amounts.
The investors Nazara Games have been investing in the virtual sports segment and they see HalaPlay’s model a perfect fit in terms of the product being offered and the demand out in the market. They have made investments in other similar ventures also in the same space.