Fireflies Founder Krish Ramineni Says Cricket Is the Next Big Opportunity for Tech

On the surface, Cricket and tech are two fields wide apart. One is played with a bat and ball, while the other is creating the newest thing that could change the world. That said, Krish Ramineni, CEO of Fireflies AI, thinks differently. He believes the next billion-dollar startup mindset may not emerge from another software company. It could come from cricket.

When Krish Ramineni announced he was joining Rotterdam Dockers as a founding investor ahead of the inaugural European T20 Premier League (ETPL), it looked like another tech sponsorship. But Ramineni says this isn’t a marketing exercise. For him, investing in cricket is like building an early-stage startup: the product is still taking shape, the audience is growing, and success depends on constantly learning from users.

Why Europe reminds him of an early-stage startup

Cricket is one of the world’s biggest sports by audience, but its commercial value has always been concentrated in certain markets like India, Australia, and England. Europe has long loved football, but millions of South Asian fans already live across the continent.

That’s exactly what attracted Ramineni,

Cricket has billions of fans, but compared to other major sports, I think we’ve barely scratched the surface of what can be built around it. What made this moment interesting to me is access. Historically, the teams and leagues worth owning were already owned. You could be a fan, a sponsor or maybe an investor, but you rarely got the chance to help build something from day one.

According to him, ETPL’s launch is like joining a startup before product-market fit. Rather than buying into an established franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars, founders can help shape the league’s identity from day one. Six franchises spread across three European countries create what he describes as a rare moment where ownership feels accessible again.

The founder mentality may change sports ownership

Before Fireflies became one of the most recognizable AI productivity companies, the startup pivoted seven different times. That experience fundamentally changed how he approaches new businesses.

You build something, put it in front of people, see what they actually do instead of what you hoped they would do, and then change it. Sports organizations historically haven’t always had to operate that way. For me, the first season of the Dockers is basically version one. Some things will work. Some things won’t. Fans will tell us what they care about through their behavior. Then we make version two dramatically better. 

He believes traditional sports organizations haven’t always operated with that same level of experimentation. Instead of assuming the perfect fan experience already exists, he views Rotterdam Dockers’ inaugural season as version one of the product.

That philosophy extends well beyond the pitch. Match-day experiences, digital content, merchandise, community engagement, and even the franchise’s personality should evolve based on fan behavior rather than executive assumptions.

His relationship with cricket began long before Fireflies

Despite leading an AI company in Silicon Valley, Ramineni’s connection to cricket has little to do with business. Growing up, he became obsessed with the sport during the MS Dhoni era. His parents weren’t particularly enthusiastic about him pursuing cricket seriously, so he quietly began sneaking out on weekends to play adult league matches.

If Fireflies never existed, I’d probably be watching the Dockers from the stands instead of sitting in the ownership group. But I’d definitely still be watching. The funny part is that as a kid, I used to sneak out of the house just to play cricket. Now I own part of a cricket team. I don’t think 12-year-old me would believe that.

For Ramineni, cricket also represents something more personal than entrepreneurship. Living thousands of miles away from India, it’s the sport that consistently reconnects him with home, regardless of geography or career.

AI in Cricket?

We’ve seen AI in almost every aspect of our lives, and Ramineni says he started using artificial intelligence in cricket before he built Fireflies into an AI company. While captaining his club cricket side, he relied on AI tools to analyze opponents before matches. As a batsman, he studied recurring bowling patterns and dismissal tendencies. As captain, he examined scoring areas, player weaknesses, and tactical matchups to prepare game plans. And this experience eventually influenced how he thinks about both industries.

Every ball tells you something about a player, an opponent or the game. The scoreboard tells you what happened. AI can help you understand why.

AI’s impact could be far more far-reaching. For example, it can help with scouting, injury prevention, fan engagement, broadcast production, personalized highlights, and even how franchises understand their communities.