American Cricket Enterprises announce list of MLC investors

American Cricket Enterprises today announced their full founding investor group for Major League Cricket.

News broke of the investment group earlier this month, with several names linked, including PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Adobe Systems CEO Shantu Narayen and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

The group of 27 investors includes two part-owners of Major League Soccer’s popular Seattle Sounders: Nadella and former Microsoft SVP Soma Somasegar; and NBA’s Dallas Mavericks minority owner and real estate investor Ross Perot Jr. The three join Shah Rukh Khan’s Knight Riders group as investors with major professional franchise sports history.

Somasegar, currently Managing Director of Madrona Venture Group, was quoted in ACE’s announcement, saying ‘For many years, people have been talking about the potential for cricket in America. With Major League Cricket, we have the first clear opportunity to turn that potential into a reality. I am proud to join an amazing group of investors in backing the drive to bring a successful T20 league to the United States. I know from my own experience here in Seattle that there is a huge appetite for sports that are newer to the American market. I am certain that over the coming decade we will see Major League Cricket begin a trajectory of growth and bring the brilliance of world-class cricket to the wider American public. I am looking forward to working with both ACE and USA Cricket to collectively grow cricket in the USA.’

Originally set for 2021, Major League Cricket’s debut season was delayed a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, and now eyes a 2022 launch. Minor League Cricket will precede the MLC throughout the summer of 2021, and will feature many of the best domestic cricketers throughout the continent.

Investors	Description
Aditya Agarwal	Ex-Facebook and Dropbox CTO
Amish Mehta	Founder of SQN Investors
Amit Singhal	Former Senior Vice President at Google and Head of Google’s Search team
Anand Rajaraman	Founding Partner at Milliways Ventures and Rocketship VC
Anurag Jain	Chairman of Access Healthcare, Co-Founder of Perot Jain, L.P.
Aravind Melligeri	Chairman & CEO of Aequs and founder of QuEST Global Services
Ashok Krishnamurthi	Managing Partner, GreatPoint Ventures and Founder of CAPP Medical and Xsigo. Former EVP at Juniper Networks.
The Baheti Family	Owners of YASH Technologies
Divesh Makan	Founder at ICONIQ Capital
Harsh Shroff	Quantitative Trader
Mayank Upadhyay	Distinguished Engineer, Google
Neeraj Arora	Former Chief Business Officer at Whatsapp
Raju Reddy	Founder and former CEO of Sierra Atlantic
Rishi Chandra	VP/GM of Google Nest
Rohyt Belani	Co-Founder and CEO, COFENSE
Ross Perot Jr.	Chairman of The Perot Group and Hillwood, Co-Founder of Perot Jain, L.P.
Sanjay Govil	Chairman of Infinite Computer Solutions and CEO of Zyter, Inc
Sanjeev Rao	Private Wealth Manager
Satya Nadella	CEO of Microsoft, part owner of Seattle Sounders
Shantanu Narayen	Chairman and CEO of Adobe
Shashin Shah	Founder, Think Investments and Director, Dream 11
Soma Somasegar	MD of Madrona Venture Group, former Microsoft SVP, part owner of Seattle Sounders
Sravish Sridhar	Founder/CEO of Kintent and Angel Investor
Subrah Iyar	Founder of Webex, Founder and CEO of Moxtra
Troy Detrick	Founder of Canyon Oak Ventures and Commercial Real Estate Investor
Venky Harinarayan	Founding Partner at Milliways Ventures and Rocketship VC
Venu Palaparthi	CCO + Head of Regulatory Affairs at DASH
Vijay Shekhar Sharma	Founder and CEO of Paytm

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