India opener Shikhar Dhawan on Friday announced that he would be launching a new 75 million dollars Global Investment Tech Fund to focus on innovation across the sports spectrum. The Fund, consisting of a greenshoe option of 25 million dollars, is the first organised VC fund by an Asian sportsperson and the first by an Indian celebrity.
The 37-year-old cricketer made the announcement during the annual Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Finance Week. The announcement made by Dhawan, his partners & team at the LP-GP Summit by 256 Network (A private, invite-only organisation of asset allocators) to an audience congregating global financial market leaders from a wide array of backgrounds, who gathered at ADGM to address strategic macroeconomic and financial topics that shape global, regional and industry perspectives and themes for the years to come.
"I am elated to start a new innings & embark on this journey in the world of venture capital. All this would not have been possible without the support of my commercial partners and the founding team's commitment to this fund, in readiness for this week's announcement and targeted deployment in Q1 2023-24," Dhawan said in a release.
"Da One Global Ventures (DOGV) will go beyond traditional investing models and will provide domain knowledge and unprecedented access to the sporting ecosystem across the globe. We are making a humble beginning but aim to scale this to greater heights and aspire to set new benchmarks for leading in Venture Capital, Sports and Technology.
I have much gratitude to sports & I look forward to the contribution of this fund to the economic strength and growth of it," he added. Dhawan, one of the most reputed names in the cricket world, has established a globally enriched and seasoned founding team who will lead the fund's investment thesis across the spectrum of Sports to include technology, esports, gaming, web3 & more.
The deployment of funds will be global in nature, as is the LP community. The fund will also have other prominent sporting personalities from across the globe representing multiple sports as LP Ambassadors.
Through this unique network of GPs and LPs, Da One Global Ventures (DOGV) will provide unprecedented access to an ecosystem worldwide that will accelerate and mobilise new propositions with a unique positioning.
This year has been a spectacular year for SportsTech with investments to the tune of 12 billion dollars already. That is more than the total of the preceding three years combined and multiple segments illustrating rapid growth in this dynamic industry.
Da One Global Ventures (DOGV) is in active discussions with various relevant stakeholders across the globe and further developments will be announced in due course. Da One Global Ventures (DOGV) will also incubate a SportsTech Accelerator & eSports Venture studio as distinguishing verticals within its platform.