Meet Harsh Jain, refused to give up after his business idea was rejected 150 times, built Rs 65,000 crore company

Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) has already begun with fans enjoying watching their favourite players on the field. Some fans also virtually play with their favourite teams or players using a popular fantasy sports app called Dream11. But have you ever wondered who founded this app and who owns it? In this article, we will tell about Harsh Jain, the co-founder and CEO of Dream11. He is among some of the richest young billionaires in India. 

Harsh Jain is an Indian entrepreneur who co-founded Dream11 with his friend Bhavit Sheth in 2008. His app has earned big with the success of the IPL and other cricketing tournaments. Today, Dream11 is an $8 billion company (Rs 65,000 crore). It has around 150 million active users on the platform.

Currently, Jain serves as the CEO (Culture Enforcement Officer) of Dream11. He is the son of business magnate Anand Jain, who is well-known to Mukesh Ambani and often considered the third son of Dhirubhai Ambani. 

Born in Mumbai, Harsh Jain is an avid sports, technology and gaming enthusiast. He is a die-hard fan of Manchester United, Mumbai Indians and the Indian Cricket Team. In 2008, when the IPL began for the first time, he and his college friend Bhavit had the idea to launch Dream 11. Both faced hardships in the initial days of Dream11 but eventually, got success.

In a podcast last year, Harsh said that after 2012, he and his founding team approached almost 150 venture capitalists in two years for funding, but only to be turned down. “But then each one actually taught us a little bit about our business, from gross margins to lifetime value and CAC,” Harsh said. Harsh oversees the product, design, tech and marketing of the company while Bhavit manages operations.

In 2013, Harsh Jain married Rachana Shah who is a dentist. The couple has a son named Krish. According to reports, the couple bought a luxury duplex apartment worth Rs 72 crore in south Mumbai’s Peddar Road in 2021.

Harsh studied at Sevenoaks High School in England from 2001 to 2003. He then pursued a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (2003-2007). During this, he joined Microsoft as a summer intern for three months. The 36-year-old also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia Business School, Columbia University.

READ | From taxi driver to net worth of Rs 42,000 crore: Meet Mukesh Jagtiani, one of UAE’s richest Indians 

In July 2010, Harsh co-founded Red Digital, a social media agency in Mumbai. However, in 2013, the firm was acquired by Gozoop, a marketing agency in Mumbai. In 2017, Harsh became the President of the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports.