Raising $120 million, “Rario” is using NFT to activate the cricket fan economy
Cricket, an aristocratic sport popular in Commonwealth countries, has come to the digital collectible market.
When it comes to cricket, many people may still be unfamiliar, but this sport has a history of more than 700 years, and there are nearly 2 billion fans around the world. And the Cricket World Cup is the fourth largest event in the world after the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and Rugby World Cup.
Recently, a cricket NFT platform called Rario has attracted much attention and has completed a financing of US$120 million, led by Dream Capital, the corporate venture capital and M&A department of Dream Sports. Other investors include Alpha Wave Global, Animoca Brands, Presight Capital and Kingsway Capital, among others.
Ankit Wadhwa, Rario co-founder and CEO, said: “NFTs are creating new forms of engagement, allowing fans to own and trade digital collectibles. Dream Sports’ 140 million sports fans will further strengthen Rario’s global cricket NFT ecosystem.”
Rario is a cricket NFT platform built on Polygon. Exclusive partnerships with 6 international cricket leagues and more than 900 cricketers have been confirmed so far,Including Sri Lanka Premier League, Caribbean Premier League, Abu Dhabi T10 League and Legends Cricket League, as well as famous stars such as Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Faf du Plessis, etc.The partnership further confirms that Rario has the largest share of cricket NFT rights in the world.
Rario's vision is to engage fans as a community, giving them the opportunity to own a piece of cricket history through digital collectibles such as player cards, video moments and more. With Rario, sports fans can buy, sell and trade NFTs with the medium of FIAT (credit card, debit card and bank transfer). Since 2021, Rario has sold more than 50,000 NFTs to sports fans in 20 countries, with the US, UK, Australia and India being its top 4 markets.
How to get NFT?
Users can obtain NFT in two simple ways.
Rario Pack
Containing some of the best moments in cricket league history, the Rario Pack is divided into different rarities based on the quality of the game, the size of the players and their importance in the game. Each pack contains 4-5 NFT silver, gold, black and unique cards, silver cards are the easiest to get and unique cards are the hardest to get. These NFTs are also assigned badges based on the superiority of the moment, the more classic the moment, the more badges.
Badges have two dimensions: "Quality of Play" and "Context of Play".
Quality of play refers to the value of a player's skill in that game, such as the number of sixes hit by a batsman and the good catch by an outfielder.
The game context takes into account the relevance of that game moment to the game as a whole or even the league as a whole. Such as whether the game is a milestone performance, etc.
The badge level will be scored according to the badge dimension.
Rario Marketplace
Rario has a built-in marketplace where you can buy and sell Rario NFTs. When you click on each NFT, you will see the time introduction, card level and price.
Additionally, Rario is offering NFT holders the chance to meet and play cricketers, as well as win player merchandise and match tickets.
Rario CTO Sunny said: “The next phase of fandom has to be in the digital realm as it allows us to engage with the sport in unimaginable ways. NFTs and blockchain technology allow us to participate in the player’s journey, own Player cards and iconic moments of the game."
In addition, Rario is also actively participating in and developing P2E games, allowing fans to use NFT to build fantasy league teams and participate in games to earn rewards.
In general, Rario is trying to replicate the successful model of NBA Top Shot to other ecology (Polygon) and sports fields (cricket), and has won the favor of the management.
