Unacademy follows peer startups like Dream11 and Paytm to pour money into IPL

• As IPL slowly rolls out the official sponsors for its 2020 edition to be held in UAE from September 19, more and more startups are emerging as the money backers.
• Edutech startup Unacademy has bagged the central sponsor deal for the Indian Premier League, while Dream11 is the title sponsor.
• Startups like Paytm and Mobile Premier League are also sponsors in the cricketing league.

Edutech startup Unacademy has bagged the central sponsor deal for the Indian Premier League (IPL). While the details of the deal and an official confirmation are awaited, reports say the startup could be paying ₹120-130 crore for three years.

The sponsorship from Unacademy comes at a time when the edutech startup is on the verge of closing an investment from SoftBank, which will catapult it into the unicorn club.

IPL’s new wave of sponsors – the young Indian startups

As the IPL slowly rolls out its official sponsors for the 2020 edition to be held in UAE from September 19, more and more startups are emerging as the money backers. This brings about a significant change for the premier cricketing tournament, which has received sponsorships from big moneybags like DLF, Pepsi, Vivo, Future Group amongst others earlier.

Unacademy’s sponsorship also comes right on the heels of gaming unicorn Dream11 bagging the title sponsorship rights for the IPL. Dream11 paid ₹222 crore for the deal after the Chinese giant Vivo had to be put aside for this year’s IPL amid the rising Indo-China tensions at the border.

Unacademy and Dream11 aren’t the only two startups that are pouring money into the glitzy IPL. Another gaming platform Mobile Premier League is the official sponsor of the Virat Kohli led team Royal Challengers Bangalore. Paytm is the official Umpire’s partner for IPL.

According to reports, Kunal Shah-led CRED is also in final talks to come on board as an official partner.

How much they are paying for IPL

Source: Times Now

Meanwhile, for the title sponsorship deal, edutech startup Byju’s had also submitted a bid. But Byju’s was already a sponsor for the Indian cricket team, having won the sponsorship rights for Team India’s jersey in 2019. Paytm and beer startup Bira91, too were, some of the major investors during the last cricket world cup, coughing up a large chunk of money for the same.

While Paytm had paid ₹327 crore to continue its BCCI sponsorship, Bira91 has a five-year sponsorship deal with the International Cricket Council.

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