Bowled.io

Rahul Singh is Season 2's most platform-pedigreed gaming founder a former Disney Plus Hotstar Product Manager who had worked at one of India's largest digital sports streaming platforms, giving him direct understanding of how Indian cricket fans consumed sport digitally and what the gap was between passive consumption (watching) and active participation (playing). His Hotstar experience gave him specific insight into India's cricket fan behaviour, engagement patterns, and willingness to spend on cricket-related digital experiences. Harsha Bhogle has invested in Bowled.io and will help the company understand the interests of cricket-driven people to grow the business. WatanzIn January 2023, the startup onboarded cricket commentator and media personality Harsha Bhogle as an advisor and investor.

"Besides watching live games, cricket fans only followed match scores, followed their favourite players online, and used fantasy gaming platforms. There was no two-way platform to engage with each other and other stakeholders in the game," Singh tells The Decrypting Story. To make the fan experience more engaging, Bowled.io has built a platform where users can play hyper-casual games, connect, own digital collectibles, and win rewards. The platform leverages blockchain technology to facilitate the creation, usage, and transfer of in-game digital assets interoperably between games on its platform.

Amount Asked: ₹80 lakhs Equity Offered: 1% Implied Pre-Money Valuation: ₹80 crore

Rahul, Akshay, and Neeraj opened Season 2 Episode 35 with the most technically theatrical pitch entry demonstrating the Bowled.io platform by showing custom avatars of the Sharks competing against each other in the game on the Shark Tank stage. The Shark avatar gameplay demonstration was Season 2 Episode 35's most memorable technology demonstration entry Sharks seeing themselves as cartoon avatars playing cricket against each other was both amusing and immediately communicative of the platform's social gaming experience. The pitch's most commercially compelling argument: India has 100 crore cricket fans who had no active, participatory, economically rewarding engagement with the sport beyond watching and fantasy sports. Bowled.io's play-to-earn model gave cricket fans the ability to convert their cricket knowledge and gaming skill into real money the first time a cricket-native gaming platform had made economic participation available at this scale.

Anupam Mittal was the most visibly surprised Shark his expression at the avatar-based pitch entry and the play-to-earn cricket gaming concept created Season 2 Episode 35's most entertainingly disbelieving Shark reaction. He exited citing Web3 regulatory concerns in India. Namita Thapar exited pharmaceutical expertise has no specific application to Web3 cricket gaming platforms. Vineeta Singh exited beauty brand expertise provides no commercial leverage for a blockchain-based sports gaming platform. Aman Gupta exited on regulatory and burn rate concerns the ₹40 to 45 lakh monthly burn against limited revenue was commercially unsustainable without rapid user and monetisation growth that the current metrics did not guarantee. Peyush Bansal exited on similar grounds the Web3 regulatory uncertainty combined with the high burn rate created investment risk that he could not accept. Amit Jain exited the automotive marketplace ecosystem has no commercial overlap with Web3 cricket gaming.

No Shark made a formal offer. All six exited before entering negotiation. The combination of Web3 cryptocurrency regulatory uncertainty in India, ₹40 to 45 lakh monthly burn against ₹1.2 crore lifetime sales, and the ₹80 crore implied valuation prevented any Shark from reaching an offer stage.

Rahul Singh, Akshay Khandelwal, and Neeraj Jhanji left Shark Tank India Season 2 Episode 35 without any investment. All Sharks declined primarily citing Web3 regulatory uncertainty in India, the high monthly burn relative to revenue, and the implied valuation's disconnect from the current commercial metrics. The Shark avatar demonstration remained Season 2 Episode 35's most visually memorable pitch moment even without a deal.

In January 2023, the startup onboarded cricket commentator and media personality Harsha Bhogle as an advisor and investor. Watanz Bowled.io continues operating the Harsha Bhogle and IndiGG investments providing both capital and the cricket cultural credibility that the platform needed for mass-market adoption. The platform's expansion from 50,000 downloads at pitch to 200,000 plus downloads post-episode demonstrates sustained user acquisition momentum. The NFT market landscape evolved significantly post-2023 — with several global NFT gaming platforms either scaling successfully (Axie Infinity recovery, Sorare football gaming) or struggling (widespread NFT market correction). Bowled.io's cricket-native positioning gives it a specific audience advantage that general NFT gaming platforms lack: India's cricket fanbase is the most passionate and most numerically concentrated sports fanbase in the world.