In an interview, the 37-year-old left-handed batsman stated the Abu Dhabi-based fund’s investments would vary from $500,000 to $5 million. The international fund, which plans to lift $50 million from traders with the choice to maintain further commitments of as much as $25 million, was introduced this month through the Abu Dhabi Finance Week.

“We will spend money on each— early stage in addition to sequence A rounds. We might lead in a single or two rounds however, basically, 80% of the startups we are going to spend money on shall be within the type of syndication. We will solely go solo in 20% of the offers, which we really feel are actually preferrred from our perspective,” he said.

According to Dhawan, who captains the Punjab Kings franchise of the Indian Premier League, it was important for him to diversify since a sportsperson has limited time on the field.

“I know I am a versatile person with a lot of potential, but I also realize the importance of diversifying, as even though cricket is my bread and butter, and I have been playing for the country, the time on the field is limited. The natural progression is you start doing commentary or become a coach or an expert, but I wanted to think beyond, challenge myself and turn those challenges into opportunities. This is why we launched Da One Group, which looks after my investments and businesses. I have also understood that when you have an amazing team, you don’t have to worry at all. I have a great team, which does all the hard work,” Dhawan stated.

“It’s a fund specializing in the enterprise of sports activities, so sports activities tech, e-sports, gaming, web3.0, and sports activities infrastructure firms shall be our goal firms. We may also take a look at investing in among the groups throughout international leagues,” he said.

On selecting sports tech as a domain, he said that sports is almost a $500 billion annual business across the world and is at a very interesting intersection where it is now ripe for disruption.

“There’ll be a lot of technology integration in the domain of sports. It is sizeable and has started to get organized. So, I guess, it’s an ideal opportunity and timing for us. Many sectors within sports are evolving, like web 3.0, which is why it’s very good timing for us. It is always important to get in early and get maximum growth,” he stated.

Amitesh Shah, chief government of Da One Group, and Mohammed Sirajuddin, entrepreneur and shut confidant of Dhawan, have labored for nearly a yr to carry the fund to life.

“Almost one yr of analysis, homework, lots of of conferences and interactions have gone into this,” Dhawan added.

While the fund is headquartered in Abu Dhabi and will look at startups across the world, India will be a big target market because of the number of consumers, he said.

“We launched the global fund because it will connect to various startups around the world. We will also get more sportspeople as partners. The fund will be managed by someone with experience in managing massive—$800 million-$1 billion funds,” Dhawan added.

While sports activities tech hasn’t seen massive investments in India, with total investments within the sector pegged at underneath $150 million within the final 5 years, the nation is the third-largest startup ecosystem on this planet.

“What we are going to carry to the desk isn’t just cash but in addition an intensive international community of the sporting ecosystem, which is able to basically lengthen to the startups we spend money on,” Dhawan said. “In terms of fund cycle, we are looking at six-plus-one-plus-one— almost eight-year fund cycle, but the idea is to do a very good execution of the fund in the first two to two-and-a-half years, and then we’ll also start building the fund II.”

Incidentally, investing is just not new to Dhawan.

He has invested in yoga startup Sarva; and has six-seven firms underneath Da One Group—from basis to sports activities academy to hospitality and, now, this international fund. He can be planning to enter the hospitality sector with the launch of a sports activities cafe subsequent month in Dubai.

On the fund’s funding philosophy, Dhawan stated, “When we spend money on firms, there are 4 or 5 key parameters which we’re . First is clearly the staff: how balanced the staff is. Then, the product-market match. Ideally, we’re firms that have already got some preliminary traction. And from our perspective, we’re additionally a related strategic match as a result of we wish to spend money on firms whereby we additionally add worth to them,” he stated.