Leading Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan collaborates with Bliv. Club and WIOM to launch the first metaverse sports city
New Delhi : India’s leading Iconic Cricketer, Shikhar Dhawan has announced his collaboration with Web3 fintech startup, Bliv.Club, and Web3 Metaverse startup, WIOM to launch the first sports city in the Metaverse. Bliv.Club was founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneurs Vikas Singh, Abhishek Kumar Gupta, and Mohammed Sirajuddin. Abhinav Tandon, an award-winning tech entrepreneur from IIT Delhi, is the founder of World in One Metaverse (WIOM), a Web3 Metaverse startup.
The global sports market is expected to grow from $354.96 billion in 2021 to $501.43 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.3%. The sports market is expected to reach $707.84 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 9%. The global metaverse market is anticipated to reach a market value of around $1,803 billion by 2030, growing at an annual rate above 45.8% from 2022 to 2030. This motivated Shikhar Dhawan to launch a sports city in the Metaverse. World-renowned cricketer Shikhar Dhawan recently launched the Da-One group of companies focusing on sports, technology, startup ecosystems, and entertainment.
This soon-to-be-launched multifaceted sports city will be home to cricket stadiums, a sportsplex- where one can leisurely enjoy watching sport, a sports cafe, gym, e-sports zone, cottages, running tracks, the first of its kind 3D immersive sports museum, sports library, an arena for other sports and much more. In addition to the above, exciting collaborations with other prominent sports personalities and sports communities are coming up.
On launching the world’s first sports city in Metaverse, Shikhar Dhawan expressed, “I have always tried to keep abreast with tech trends. I am really intrigued by how sports can blend with the latest web3 innovations. With the evolving internet consumption trends of millennials and Gen Z, our multifaceted team is pushing the boundaries in the virtual reality space to make it truly democratic and accessible for everyone. ”
“We are building a fully functional and sustainable multiverse economy to narrow the gap between the existing offline sports/fitness avenues and metaverses. You have to be a bit crazy to create something like this and make an innovative impact,” he adds with a smile.
Abhinav Tandon, the founder of WIOM, said, “The initiative aims at the development of a sports universe for enthusiasts. This will essentially be a sports city built on the latest blockchain-based tech stack, with the idea of evolving into a community-owned and decentralized platform enabling utility tokens, dApps, and an XR-based pedagogy ecosystem. The initiative will focus on bringing best-of-breed market leading Metaverse innovations”.
Vikas Singh, co-founder, Bliv.Club expressed, “This 3-D immersive world called Metaverse will have the best technological innovation available. Knowing the value of the community-owned platform in web3, this virtual city will have a special place for its residents and users. As a Web3 Fintech company, our goal will always be to bring futuristic solutions today to the masses.”