Tiger Global to invest in Rajasthan Royals at a likely valuation of $650 mn

Tiger Global is in talks to acquire a stake in Indian Premier League's team Rajasthan Royals, making its foray into one of the biggest sports leagues in the world, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Monday.

It said that the investment firm is likely to invest $40 million in the franchise at a valuation of $650 million. In the sports economy, Tiger Global has already invested in India's Dream Sports, which owns the fantasy gaming platform Dream 11.

Tiger Global has been in talks with other franchises too, but the deal with Rajasthan Royals is expected to be completed soon. Earlier in 2021, US-based RedBird Capital had also picked a stake in Rajasthan Royals at a valuation of $250 million. It owns a stake in the baseball team Boston Red Sox and football club Liverpool.

Tiger Global is known for its vast investments in India. It was one of the early backers of e-commerce giant Flipkart and holds stakes in cab aggregator Ola, food delivery platform Zomato and Delhivery, among others.

Its investments have fallen in 2023 in line with global funding winter, but of late, it has been diversifying away from tech companies. It has recently invested in tea chain Chaayos and quick service restaurant chain Wow! Momos.

IPL has also become one of the biggest sports leagues in the world. In 2022, the IPL franchise was valued at $10.9 billion, up 75 per cent from $6.2 billion in 2020.  

Owned by UK-based Manoj Badale's Emerging Media, Rajasthan Royals has already been eliminated from the IPL 2023 season. With Sanju Samson as the captain, the team has big players like Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Adan Zampa, Ravichandran Ashwin and Trent Boult.

The team's 21-year-old batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 625 runs in 14 matches this season, becoming one of the most effective upcoming players.