【Stan】 An e-sports specialized fan engagement platform / A startup from India / Already has 4 million users and aims to reach 10 million users in 6 months
They will build a fan economy utilizing NFTs.
Good morning.
I'm mitsui, a web3 researcher.
Today, I researched about "Stan".
Table of Contents
1. Overview | What is Stan?
-Features
-Supported Chains
2. Development and Outlook | The Importance of Considering "Where" to Compete in the Huge eSports Market
Overview | What is Stan?
"Stan" is an app where users can interact with popular eSports players by purchasing merchandise, chatting, and participating in audio rooms. NFT cards of popular players are sold as digital items.
◼️Features
There are primarily 5 features:
Collection: Purchase and collect digital items.
Exchange: Exchange collected items with other players' digital items.
Upgrade: Combine STAN's collected items to reach higher levels and access more perks and rewards.
Interaction: Use collections to interact with people in various ways.
Battle: Play simple games using owned digital items.
Fans can upgrade their ranks and interact by collecting digital items from celebrities. For example, they can acquire signed merchandise, visit their favorite streamer's bootcamp, meet them on Instagram Live, participate in 1-on-1 Discord streams, or play games together.
In short, it is a fan platform utilizing NFTs. STAN also describes its service as an eSports fan engagement platform.
◼️Supported Chains
Although there was no mention of chains on their website or Medium, based on the search on OpenSea, it is likely that the platform operates on Polygon.
Furthermore, as mentioned later, Stan is a service based in India, and although it was possible to download in Japan, there was no phone number verification when registering an account.
Transition and Outlook | An Indian Startup Taking on the Massive eSports Market
Stan is a startup based in Bangalore, India, founded in 2022. It has conducted two funding rounds so far.
In May 2022, it raised $2.5 million from General Catalyst, based in the United States. In January 2024, it announced raising $2.7 million from Aptos Labs, Pix Capital, Maelstrom Fund, GFR Fund, CoinDCX Ventures, Climber Capital, TDV Partners, Coinswitch Ventures, and others.
I just realized that the NFTs issued on OpenSea (most likely the original ones based on the issuance number) were on Polygon, but this time they are being funded by Aptos Labs, so the chain might be migrating to Aptos, or it may already have migrated or be transitioning.
Let me explain why it is based in India. One reason is that India is known for its thriving startup ecosystem, but another reason is the presence of a massive eSports market in India.
With the growth of the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services like YouTube, eSports has become incredibly popular worldwide and has become an industry that generates over $1 billion annually. The valuation of the eSports industry was around $700 million in 2018, but it is estimated to exceed $2 billion by 2023, with an average annual growth rate of over 16%.
India, in particular, has several major eSports teams due to its large population, and the enthusiasm for eSports is very high.
Currently, eSports players earn income primarily through advertisements, sponsorships, donations from fans, and hosting game camps (classrooms that teach gaming). Stan aims to add NFTs as a source of income in this field.
In addition to being a new source of revenue, having a dedicated fanbase is crucial for eSports players and clubs. By utilizing NFTs, Stan can also function as a fan club that brings fans closer. That's why it is called a fan engagement platform.
According to the information announced during the recent funding round in January 2024, Stan already has over 4 million users and aims to reach 10 million within the next six months. The funding secured for the next two years will be used for marketing activities, strengthening product features, and attracting more creators to the platform.
Analysis | The Importance of Considering "Where" to Fight
The final part is the analysis.
Stan was a service that was easy to understand, similar to fan clubs of K-pop idols that I have researched in the past. However, the scale is impressive. It already has 4 million users, and it was mentioned that they aim to reach 10 million users within six months, which I believe is at the level of a listed consumer-oriented service in Japan.
Having a good product and conducting solid marketing activities are prerequisites, but I feel that the reason for the service to have such a large scale is the large population in India and the ability to access the e-sports population not only in India but also in English-speaking countries around the world.
If we do a simple calculation, with a population difference of 10 times between Japan and India, the 4 million users in India is equivalent to about 400,000 users in Japan. Considering the younger generation, there is also a possibility of a difference of about 20 times, so it could be around 200,000 users.
I think having 200,000 users domestically is quite successful, but I don't get the impression that we can win in the platform where we compete with that scale on a global level. And this is an important point that is unrelated to the quality of the product.
Since I am not yet a global person, I unconsciously target Japanese people and look at the domestic market. However, even with exactly the same idea and team skill set, the choice of where to fight can make a 100-fold difference.
Moreover, when the market is different, the business model also changes. Business models that rely solely on the domestic market would result in low profits and high sales or creating a huge platform and recovering later, such as in the case of SNS, are not feasible and are excluded from the options from the beginning.
At first glance, this may seem unrelated to the discussion of web3. Indeed, this is a way of thinking that applies to all businesses. However, web3 is a global and permissionless world where anyone can participate and make transactions, so it becomes an even more important perspective.
I haven't built my product yet, but I have started expanding into multiple languages for my own newsletter to market it globally, not just in Japanese. (Actually, I started doing this recently. I have only just started, so I plan to release a release announcing the start of the multilingual expansion once the situation is more settled.)
In addition to the interesting aspects of that platform, this research has been helpful from a business perspective.
That concludes the research on "Stan"!
Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.
About us
A web3 newsletter delivered in five languages around the world. We deliver various articles about web3, including project explanations, news and trend analysis, and industry reports, every day. You can subscribe for $8 per month ($80 per year) and receive research articles that took 100 hours to complete every day.
Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.
Contact
The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:
Telegram：@mitsui0x
*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.