News

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.

InvestorsDescription
Aditya AgarwalEx-Facebook and Dropbox CTO
Amish MehtaFounder of SQN Investors
Amit SinghalFormer Senior Vice President at Google and Head of Google’s Search team
Anand RajaramanFounding Partner at Milliways Ventures and Rocketship VC
Anurag JainChairman of Access Healthcare, Co-Founder of Perot Jain, L.P.
Aravind MelligeriChairman & CEO of Aequs and founder of QuEST Global Services
Ashok KrishnamurthiManaging Partner, GreatPoint Ventures and Founder of CAPP Medical and Xsigo. Former EVP at Juniper Networks.
The Baheti FamilyOwners of YASH Technologies
Divesh MakanFounder at ICONIQ Capital
Harsh ShroffQuantitative Trader
Mayank UpadhyayDistinguished Engineer, Google
Neeraj AroraFormer Chief Business Officer at Whatsapp
Raju ReddyFounder and former CEO of Sierra Atlantic
Rishi ChandraVP/GM of Google Nest
Rohyt BelaniCo-Founder and CEO, COFENSE
Ross Perot Jr.Chairman of The Perot Group and Hillwood, Co-Founder of Perot Jain, L.P.
Sanjay GovilChairman of Infinite Computer Solutions and CEO of Zyter, Inc
Sanjeev RaoPrivate Wealth Manager
Satya NadellaCEO of Microsoft, part owner of Seattle Sounders
Shantanu NarayenChairman and CEO of Adobe
Shashin ShahFounder, Think Investments and Director, Dream 11
Soma SomasegarMD of Madrona Venture Group, former Microsoft SVP, part owner of Seattle Sounders
Sravish SridharFounder/CEO of Kintent and Angel Investor
Subrah IyarFounder of Webex, Founder and CEO of Moxtra
Troy DetrickFounder of Canyon Oak Ventures and Commercial Real Estate Investor
Venky HarinarayanFounding Partner at Milliways Ventures and Rocketship VC
Venu PalaparthiCCO + Head of Regulatory Affairs at DASH
Vijay Shekhar SharmaFounder and CEO of Paytm
USA Cricket released the full list of founding MLC investors on 12/23/2020

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Nate Hays

Fielding All Rounder, played a lot of baseball. Born in Maryland, lives in North Carolina, not from a ‘cricketing nation'...yet!

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