Harsh Anand Kumar Jain is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and cultural executive (CEO) of Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11.
Wiki/Biography
Harsh Jain was born in Mumbai in 1986 (35 years old in 2021). From 2001 to 2003, he attended Sevenoaks High School in England. He subsequently pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (2003-2007). He then entered Columbia Business School at Columbia University to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Harsh has been good at sports since he was a child. He actively played football during school and college.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′7″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Harsh Jain is the son of Anand Kumar Jain (businessman) and Sushma Jain (painter). His father is generally considered to be the third son of Dhirubhai Ambani. In 2007, Forbes India ranked Anand Jain at No. 1. Ranked 19th among the 40 richest people in India. He has a sister named Neha Jain. Neha’s husband Anurag Bagaria owns his own pharmaceutical company Kem Well Pharma (a contract manufacturer for multinational pharmaceutical companies).
Harsh Jain’s father Anand Jain
Harsh Jain’s mother Sushma Jain
Neha Jain, sister of Harsh Jain
wife and children
Harsh Jain married dentist Rachana Shah in 2013. The couple has a son named Krish.
Harsh Jain and his wife Rachana Shah Jain
Harsh Jain with wife Rachana Shah Jain and son Krish
Profession
Harsh joined Microsoft as a summer intern for three months in 2006 while studying for his bachelor’s degree. At Microsoft, he worked on the feasibility and business benefits of the company’s entry into the push-to-talk (PTT) market. In 2007, he joined Jai Corp. Limited, Mumbai as Marketing Manager. Combining his love for sports, gaming and technology, Harsh founded Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11 in 2008 with business partner Bhavit Sheth.
Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth at their workplace
In July 2010, Harsh co-founded Mumbai-based social media agency Red Digital. Within two years of its inception, the company has successfully expanded its clientele to some Indian and international conglomerates such as Dell, Adidas, PVR, Berger Paints, EduComp and Reliance Foundation. The company was acquired by Mumbai-based marketing agency Gozoop in 2013. In 2017, Harsh became the president of the Fantasy Sports Federation of India.
Fantasy Sports Federation of India logo
As of 2021, he serves as the Cultural Executive Officer (CEO) of Dream11. The company has approximately 70 million registered users and 10 million paid users (as of 2021). Dream11 is the flagship brand of Dream Sports.
Strict Jain during official meeting
In addition to Dream11, Dream Sports also launches the following brands:
- FanCode – India’s premier digital comprehensive sports destination
- Dream Capital – the corporate venture capital and M&A arm of Dream Sports
- KheloMore – One-stop destination for sports venues (cricket pitches, football pitches, sports fields, badminton courts, tennis courts)
- DreamSetGo – India’s first premium customized sports travel and experience platform
- DreamX——Sports Accelerator
- Dream Sports Foundation – the charitable arm of Dream Sports, providing comprehensive support and assistance to individuals and organizations in need
dispute
In 2017, Harsh’s company Dream11 filed a case in the Rajasthan High Court. The petitioners termed Dream11 as a pure game of chance involving betting on cricket teams. In its ruling, the court stated that winning or losing in the Dream 11 game depends on the skills and knowledge of the participants. The court also held that “technical factors” had a dominant influence on the outcome of the Dream11 competition. However, fantasy sports are not legally allowed in a few states in India such as Assam, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The decision was challenged in India’s Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal and allowed the company to operate nationwide.
income
Earlier, Harsh Jain’s salary was Rs. His company Dream11 was giving him Rs 12 crore annually, but in April 2020, the company increased his salary to Rs. 4 Crores per annum.
Favorites
- Travel destination: Spain
- Football team: Manchester United
Facts/Trivia
- In his free time, Harsh enjoys traveling and playing football. He also enjoys spending his free time with his four pet dogs at his home in Lonavala.
- In 2021, against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions between India and China, Harsh claimed that his company Dream11 would not raise funds from Chinese investors in the future. Apparently, in March 2021, Chinese multinational Tencent Holdings Ltd. held about 10% of Dream Sports.
- In an interview, when asked what prompted him to start a fantasy sports website, Harsh said,
I have been an avid fan of Fantasy Football (EPL) since 2001 and when the IPL started in 2008, I started looking for opportunities to play fantasy cricket online. Shockingly, in a country like India, where 800 million people watch cricket, fantasy cricket doesn’t exist at all. So my co-founder Bavit and I thought this was the perfect problem we needed to solve. After several years of experimenting with different formats on Dream11, in 2012 we found a single-match freemium fantasy cricket product that fit the market. Over the years, Dream11 has grown into a diversified platform, offering a variety of sports for a variety of sports. The number of fans in the country has grown from 300,000 users in 2015 to 380,000 users in 2018. “
- In 2019, Jain’s startup Dream11 became India’s first gaming company to become a unicorn. A unicorn is a privately held startup company with a valuation of over $1 billion.
- In August 2020, after Vivo withdrew from sponsorship of the Indian Premier League, Dream11 won the title sponsorship rights of the Indian Premier League for a period of 1 million rupees for three years. 2.2 billion.
- Harsh has been passionate about dogs since he was a child. As a child, he often fed stray animals near his building. Once, when he was a teenager, he had a kitten at home and asked his parents to adopt it. However, they did not allow him to keep the stray cat at home. He owns 4 pet dogs – 2 beagles and 2 alsatians.
- When Hash graduated from Penn State, his parents gave him Simba, a beagle. Simba is Harsh’s first pet. Unfortunately, when Simba was 5 years old, he developed some serious health problems and passed away.
- In 2020, Harsh founded the NGO Raksha Foundation in Mumbai with his wife Rachana. The foundation aims to provide free education to underprivileged children and promote animal welfare.
- In November 2021, Jain’s wife Rachana Jain purchased a luxury duplex apartment at 33 Peddar Road South in south Mumbai for Rs. 72 Crores.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education