Rohit Sharma Invests in LightFury Games Ahead of eCricket Launch
Former India captain Rohit Sharma has invested in Bengaluru-based gaming studio LightFury Games. The size and terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Rohit will also appear as an officially licensed player in the studio’s upcoming title, eCricket. He becomes the eighth prominent cricketer to invest in LightFury, joining MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma, and Sai Sudharsan.
LightFury Games is an AAA-focused game technology studio founded in 2024 by Karan Shroff, Anurag Banerjee, and Tina Balachandran. Its leadership team has collectively worked on more than 40 AAA titles.
The company is developing eCricket as a competitive cricket experience featuring multiplayer and social elements. Built on Unreal Engine 5, the game will feature a roster of more than 700 officially licensed cricketers and real-world physics.
The announcement comes ahead of the game’s phased closed beta, scheduled to begin in September 2026. More than 300,000 people had signed up, and the latest teaser had passed one million views.
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The company raised $8.5 million in a seed round in 2024 and $11 million in a pre-Series A funding round in April 2026, backed by Blume Ventures, V3 Ventures, MIXI, and Times Internet. Dhoni, Bumrah, Pandya, Iyer, Jadeja, Varma and Sudharsan also participated in that round as strategic investors.
“High-performance sport is built on preparation, precision and the pursuit of continuous improvement. I see those same values reflected in what LightFury Games is building with eCricket,” Rohit said.
“Their ambition to create a world-class cricket experience from India is compelling, and I’m excited to support that vision while helping bring the game closer to millions of cricket fans around the world,” he said.
Karan Shroff, co-founder and CEO of LightFury Games, said: “India has been one of the world’s largest gaming markets for years. Our ambition is to show that India can build defining game franchises for the world.”
The closed beta will give an initial group of players access to eCricket, with their feedback expected to help the studio refine the game before its wider launch later in 2026.
LightFury’s latest funding will be used primarily to complete the development of eCricket and strengthen its live operations, including infrastructure and content systems intended to support the game after launch.
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