Follow UsBacked by more than $100 million in funding and bolstered by marquee names such as Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, and David Warner, Major League Cricket (MLC) is rapidly evolving into one of the most ambitious T20 leagues outside the Indian Premier League. With a salary cap of $1.1 million per team and top players earning as much as $175,000 for a five-game stint, MLC is not just attracting talent - it’s competing on a per-game payout basis with every major league not named IPL.
Nowhere is this more visible than in the Bay Area, where the San Francisco Unicorns, one of MLC’s flagship franchises, have found both a home base and a strategic partner in Qualys, a global cybersecurity firm headquartered in Silicon Valley.
In this exclusive conversation, we speak with David White, CEO of the Unicorns, and Sumedh Thakar, CEO & President of Qualys, which sponsored San Francisco Unicorns for the 2025 Major League Cricket Season, to explore the synergy between tech and cricket, the Unicorns' strategy to build a commercially viable cricket brand in America, and the long-term vision of two business leaders committed to reshaping the American sporting landscape.
Let’s dive in.
Q: Mr. White, we’re in just the third season of Major League Cricket, but the league already seems to have attracted serious capital, sponsors, and global attention. From your perspective, how commercially viable is MLC becoming as a U.S. sports product?
David White: The MLC has a strong growth trajectory. Since inception, the league and its teams have had strong backing from investors, which was a prerequisite to give the league the robust and willing foundations for a legitimate chance of success. Since then, the league’s stakeholders have done a great job attracting the attention of major global brands to invest in that high-potential journey, and the response from existing and potential partners to the Oakland phase has been hugely encouraging for the league’s and the Unicorns’ future prospects.
Q: How do you compare MLC’s current growth trajectory with other U.S. sports leagues that were once “niche” but found mainstream success like MLS, UFC, or F1?
David White: There are some definite parallels to be drawn with the MLS [Major League Soccer] journey. It took the soccer league years to break through at scale in the US market, and nearly a decade before they attracted truly global superstars, such as David Beckham. We’ve had that focus on talent from day one, and we hope that taking those best practices and learnings from elsewhere will help shorten that timeframe. Saying that, we face other challenges, such as access to appropriate venues, which the MLS didn’t have, but we’ve already demonstrated with the Coliseum that these can be dealt with.
Q: Cricket is traditionally India-UK-Australia focused. What are the unique challenges and opportunities of building an American audience that didn’t grow up with the sport?
David White: Fortunately, the USA has an established cricketing community, primarily from immigrant communities. They form a passionate core that helps us build the grassroots of the game that the MLC will be dependent upon, while we are also adding marquee personalities and talent that can draw in mainstream attention.
The real opportunity is blending that authenticity with accessibility, making cricket feel both familiar and fresh to a new generation of Americans and sports fans as a collective. The T20 format is faster and more explosive, and as an entertainment product, has been proven across most continents. Tweaking the existing model and building out a digital-first experience that resonates with a younger, diverse American sports fanbase is what we aim to do.
Q: The Bay Area is a hotbed of both cricketing diaspora and global capital. How are the Unicorns positioning themselves commercially to tap into both this diaspora market and the broader U.S. audience?
David White: The Bay Area’s diverse and globally connected population, particularly its passionate and influential cricket-loving diaspora, is a key differentiator and competitive advantage for the San Francisco Unicorns. We’re actively leveraging this community by creating authentic touchpoints through grassroots engagement, cultural celebrations, and targeted partnerships, which fortunately is also an approach that appeals to global brands. Our goal is to be recognised as the team that fully represents the demographics and ambitious spirit of the diverse Silicon Valley.
Q: Beyond sponsorship, what other revenue streams — merchandising, digital content, stadium experiences, community outreach — are you building to ensure long-term sustainability?
David White: The stadium piece is critical to our commercial viability. Having access to the right venue and the right commercial model will unlock a range of revenue-driving opportunities that currently don’t exist for teams in the league, including ticketing, hospitality, and in-venue activations. With many significant revenue streams centrally managed, such as media and broadcast rights, the ongoing growth of the league directly contributes to the commercial success and viability of the Unicorns. Owning and operating a venue gives us greater autonomy and flexibility to build a sustainable, long-term business model.
Q: What role do partners like Qualys play in shaping your broader business model? Is this part of a deliberate Silicon Valley strategy?
David White: Partnering with companies like Qualys is very much a deliberate part of our Silicon Valley positioning. We’re building the Unicorns as not just a cricket team, but as a modern sports and entertainment brand that reflects the values, innovation, and diversity of the Bay Area.
Tech partnerships are central to that vision. Qualys, and others in the space, bring more than just commercial support; they bring alignment with a progressive, ambitious mindset, a global reach, as well as deep roots in the local community. This is powerful as we look to engage both the diaspora with a rich cricketing culture, as well as newer fans who are seeing the sport for the first time.
The Qualys Connection: Tech Meets Cricket
Q: Mr. Thakar, what was the strategic thought process behind Qualys entering the world of cricket sponsorship through MLC and the Unicorns?
Sumedh Thakar: Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world – watched by 2.5 billion fans and second only to soccer – yet in the U.S., it’s just starting to catch on. Qualys sponsoring the San Francisco Unicorns at this point in MLC’s nascency gives us a unique opportunity to be a catalyst to the sport taking off here, while growing and benefiting the local Bay Area economy. The Unicorns filled a void by playing at the Oakland Coliseum, giving locals a new home team to root for. In so many ways, we saw this sponsorship as being much more transformational to the sport and local culture than just sponsoring a more established sport.
At Qualys, we consider ourselves a true pioneer, representative of the Silicon Valley spirit. We’re all about being disruptive and transformational, rather than jumping on the bandwagon of what everyone else is already doing. In a lot of ways, the Unicorns and Qualys have so many synergies – we were one of the original ‘unicorn’ companies back in the day, growing it from a small start-up to where it is today. It just made sense to partner to help grow the team and bring cricket to a new and wider audience in the US.
Q: Cricket isn’t a mainstream American sport yet. Why do you believe it’s the right platform for Qualys’ brand story and business objectives?
Sumedh Thakar: For me, watching cricket is pure joy. There’s something electric about the game – the technique, the unpredictable momentum shifts that keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a sport that combines skill, strategy and adrenaline, and I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.
At the same time, Qualys is a very well-respected cyber company – we have over 70% of the Forbes Global 50 as well as top banks and government agencies counted among our customers. We see this as a positive opportunity to impact MLC with Qualys’ logo on the Unicorns jersey – we’re able to leverage that global recognition to also promote cricket and give our employees, partners and customers an opportunity to experience the joys of the sport right here in the United States.
Partnering with the Unicorns feels right. We’re a local Silicon Valley-based company supporting our homegrown sports team. Supporting the Unicorns lets us celebrate our roots while investing in the local community, economy, and culture.
Q: We’re seeing tech companies like Microsoft and now Qualys taking a serious interest in MLC. Mr. Thakar, what makes cricket so attractive for Silicon Valley’s business leaders and tech ecosystem?
Sumedh Thakar: Silicon Valley is unlike anywhere else; it’s a cultural melting pot that attracts the top minds from all over the world. Many of the top tech leaders based here grew up in countries where cricket is very popular, but until recently, have never had the chance to experience it live in the U.S. It’s a unique time to get into a burgeoning sport in the U.S. and be a first mover – Silicon Valley has always been disruptive and innovative that way.
And while cricket is new here, it’s a very well-established sport worldwide, so it makes sense that many tech companies are seeing the opportunity for cricket’s growth in the U.S. As an example, top cricket player, Virat Kohli, has 274 million Instagram followers, whereas a top basketball player in the U.S., like Steph Curry – widely popular in his own right – only has 58 million followers. That kind of global reach gives a sense of how big cricket is and its potential in the U.S.
Q: Mr. Thakar, does this partnership indicate a broader Qualys strategy of entering sports sponsorship, or is this a one-off tailored for cricket?
Sumedh Thakar: At Qualys, we’re always looking for innovative ways to reach new customer segments. This is not our first sports sponsorship – as an example, we’ve also sponsored fencing. We have a diversified marketing strategy, and we see supporting up-and-coming sports and talent as a disruptive way to boost brand awareness and expand our visibility in unexpected places. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome than what we saw with Finn Allen making a record-breaking 19 sixes in the opening game. He proudly sported the Qualys logo, giving us incredible exposure and momentum right out of the gate.