FanCode raises $50M funding from parent Dream Sports

FanCode, India’s premier digital sports destination for all fans, has raised $50 million from parent Dream Sports’ investment arm, Dream Sports Investments (DSI). Founded by sports industry veterans Yannick Colaco and Prasana Krishnan, FanCode is committed to giving all sports fans a highly personalised experience across sports content, commerce and sports statistics.

Since its inception in 2019, FanCode has acquired over 20 million sports fans as users, partnered with some of the biggest global sports brands such as the NFL, MLB, Cricket West Indies, New Zealand Cricket, NBA, Bundesliga, multiple IPL teams, and live-streamed nearly 30,000 hours of sports content. FanCode has pioneered industry-first services such as interactive live streaming of sports matches with customisable data overlays, the fastest ad-free live scores and a flexible choice to subscribe for content by introducing Match Pass & Tour Pass. FanCode has also launched FC Stats, the largest sports analytics and insights hub, via the acquisition of FanDuniya, and became the only platform to host the official merchandise of all eight IPL teams through FC Shop. With this $50M funding round from the parent company, FanCode plans to accelerate the growth and scale of its digital sports services to create the biggest sports fan platform in India and expand its team to include top engineering and product development talent across various roles as well as leadership positions.

Speaking about the impact and potential of FanCode, Harsh Jain, CEO & Co-Founder of Dream Sports, said, “FanCode is transforming the way sports is consumed online by focusing on long-tail sporting events and personalisation of content, commerce and sports statistics across all sports. We are happy to support FanCode’s efforts in scaling up the business and making sports more accessible to over 800 million fans in India.”

Commenting on the growth of FanCode, Yannick Colaco, Co-Founder of FanCode, said, “Since our launch in 2019, FanCode has aimed at providing a unique, seamless and personalised digital sports experience to every Indian fan. The funding from Dream Sports will help us enhance our existing offerings and invest in further innovation in the sports tech domain as we scale up to our goal of growing to a user base of 100M sports fans by July next year.”

Talking about the investment of FanCode, Prasana Krishnan, Co-Founder of FanCode, said, “In a short period, FanCode has created not only best-in-class digital sports platform but also pioneered several user-first initiatives in India. The investment from Dream Sports is a testament to the growth and potential of FanCode, and we look forward to scaling our business, continuing to  create unique digital fan experiences, forging more strategic partnerships and onboard the best talent.”

FanCode has established three D2C (direct-to-consumer) revenue lines between FC Live (live sports content), FC Shop (official sports fan merchandise) and FC Stats (sports analytics and insights). Currently, FanCode covers multi-sports categories and has exclusive live streaming rights in India for Cricket West Indies, New Zealand Cricket (domestic matches), Bundesliga, Malaysia Cricket, and Major League Baseball. To provide in-depth sports analytics, data and insights, FanCode has on-boarded over 50 sports authors and experts, including Ravi Shastri, Ajit Agarkar and Ayaz Memon.