Fantasy gaming startup Dream11 on Tuesday bagged the IPL title sponsorship rights with a bid of Rs 222 crore, replacing Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for a four and a half month deal.
Already a sponsor in the IPL, Dream11 raced ahead of its heavy competitors and favorites Tata Sons and edu-tech companies Unacademy and Byju’s. Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali was also in the race but it said to consider for sponsorship if no Indian company bids for title sponsorship.
“Dream11 has won the rights with a bid of Rs 222 crore,” IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI.
Byju’s stood in the next place with a bid of Rs 201 crore followed by Unacademy with Rs 170 crore. It came to the notice that the Tata group didn’t place a final bid.
Vivo previously had a Rs 440 crore per year deal but pulled itself out as the sponsor for this season in the wake of the border stand-off between India and China.
The 13th edition of IPL is set to be held in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 with the final scheduled on November 10. The teams have already started to assemble and will be flying to the UAE after August 20.