Nadella, Narayen back US Twenty20 cricket league
MORE THAN a dozen Indian-American business leaders including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen are among major investors in a venture to launch America’s first-ever professional Twenty20 cricket league.
Major League Cricket (MLC), America’s first professional T20 cricket league, announced May 19 its plans to deploy more than $120m to launch the US version of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Investment in MLC will ‘open a new era for the world’s second most popular sport in the United States’ and ‘transform US cricket landscape and fund the construction of world-class cricket stadia and training centers nationwide,’ it said.
The other investors are Soma Somasegar,
Anand Rajaraman, Venky Harinarayan, Sanjay Govil, Anurag Jain, Ross Perot Jr., Tanweer Ahmed and the The Baheti Family.
The San Francisco based organization, which is partnering with ICC member USA Cricket, said it has completed an initial close of a $44m Series A and A1 Fundraising Round, which includes MLC’s seed funding round, led by a group of America’s most successful and respected business leaders.
With an additional commitment of $76 million in further fundraising over the next 12 months in place, MLC plans to deploy more than $120 million in the venture.
‘The significant funding committed by an outstanding group of investors will allow Major League Cricket to build first-class facilities and accelerate the sport’s development across the country, bringing world-class professional cricket to the world’s largest sports market,’ said Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, co-founders, Major League Cricket.
‘This investor group comprises leading business executives and successful tech entrepreneurs who have led some of the world’s most prominent companies,’ he said.
‘They bring tremendous experience and expertise in support of MLC’s plans to launch a transformative Twenty20 league and establish America as one of the world’s leading homes for international cricket events.’
The $120m investment into MLC will primarily be dedicated to building premier cricket-specific stadia and training centers to develop a new generation of American star cricketers, according to a press release.
Besides international games, world-class T20 action will be played annually with MLC bringing the best cricketers in the world.