According to a recent report by TechCrunch, it has been brought to light that the founders of Rario will be stepping down from their roles at the company. Last year, the Cricket NFT startup achieved a significant feat by securing $120 million in a funding round that was led by India’s Dream11.
The two founders at the centre of discussion are Ankit Wadhwa, the CEO and Sunny Bhanot, the CTO of the company. Sources reveal that they are being forced out of the company as Investors. However, neither Ankit nor Sunny has issued any official statements on the matter. Even Dream11 is not ready to speak on the matter.
It has also been highlighted that these changes are almost foreshadowing what is to transpire in the near future.
In a recent X thread, a user commented, “It seems like a move to exert more control over the platform’s direction.”
While the recent shake-up was not anticipated, it is not entirely unexpected since the parent company of Dream11, Dream Sports, took to their heels with cost-cutting measures. Dream Sports is also in talks about revising its licensing deals with Rario. All of this, according to the same sources, is an attempt to reduce expenses.
Around last year, the company stood strong with a valuation of approx. $250 million, out of which a portion of the stake was sold during the funding round. However, the truth is that, over the past quarter, the popularity of the platform has waned. On top of that, both the volume and price of digital assets have fallen significantly as a result of the global economic slump.
According to Glamsham, “In April this year, Consumer Online Foundation wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to investigate the business activities of Rario and its compliance with Indian taxation laws with respect to virtual digital assets, crypto currency and anti-money laundering (AML) laws.”
Regarding the matter, Bejon Kumar Mishra, in a letter to Finance Minister, said,
“Our initial study has revealed that Rario violated the applicable taxation provisions of virtual digital assets and crypto currency in India. It is observed that in all transactions in Rario the consumers are misled in a deceptive manner by adopting unethical marketing practices, which are not only deemed as unfair trade practices but also violating the rights of the consumer.”
He also added that “In reality, Rario is an NFT and Cryptocurrency platform, a fact which is not obvious to a visitor to their website”.
With everything that has been going on, Ratio currently has a lot of work cut out for them if they plan on redeeming themselves anytime soon.
While it seems like the setbacks will not be ending in the immediate future, they do have a few partnerships and collaborations to look forward to with Sachin Tendulkar, Cricket Australia, IPL franchises Gujarat Titan and Punjab Kings, Abu Dhabi T10, Hero Caribbean Premier League, and the Lanka Premier League.
Read more: Dubai’s Tech Aspiration: Attracting Indian Talent for Startup Success
