Website – SportsApp
In a seed round, a Noida-based startup SportsApp has raised $140K. It was led by well-known names like Anirban Basu, Kuldeep Puri Sanjay Ahuja, Shubhrendu Khoche, and Ram Ganesan.
This unique startup that primarily addresses India’s aspiring sportspersons utilizes a unique proprietary tech platform to determine the asymmetric access to “Community, Sponsorships, and Career.”
According to SportsApp, they will utilize the funds further to enhance their technology, go-to-market, and marketing capabilities. This should further catalyze the accelerated growth of this great startup that has witnessed key KPIs since its launch. Established in Mar ’18, SportsApp has seen the development of 80X in DAUs, 56X in MAUs, and 20X in downloads. Interestingly, the startup measured an extraordinary 4X scale-up in revenues during the catastrophic pandemic year of 2020-21 FY.
“Shortage of access to the necessary resources such as sponsorships, information, and professional support for aspiring athletes early on in their careers is the main hindrance that is costing India immensely in world sporting events. For an emerging world strength like India, we need to become a force to reckon with at the Olympics along with other exclusive world events. Towards this mission, we should equip our young sportspersons with better access to resources”, said Shashank Mishra (founder- SportApp), who himself was once a promising cricketer. But he had to give up on his sporting dreams due to a lack of resources. Today he is wholly devoted to extracting the same limitations for young sportspersons and building a necessary disruption in this sports industry.
SportsApp is an excellent aggregator platform joining Community, Commerce, and Content for India’s budding sportspersons. It practices tech to eliminate the sports industry’s asymmetry and displays the vision to ‘Empower Sports Stars Of Tomorrow .’Through SportsApp, promising sportspersons can not only access but leverage the entire sporting eco-system, including coaches, physiotherapists, nutritionists, sponsors, and other vital resources. Interestingly, the Government of India has recently started paying heed to sports as an integral topic for the nation’s youth.
We sought shrewdness from Shashank on the future of this Digital Community for Sports Industry. We’ll learn what makes it relevant in modern times.
“Sporting eco-system comes with 4 Ps that make it ripe for a tech-centric disruption— Providence, Patronage, the Platform, and Potential. Presently, there is a large asymmetry of support from brands where 90%+ sponsorship and endorsements go to only the top 5-6 stars. Usually, they are from cricket. Indian Govt’s recent choice to bring ‘Sports’ into the curriculum from the extra-curricular activities apart from other interesting initiatives such as ‘Khelo India’ already encourages us to build a solid and favorable ground.
The evolution of sports as a sustainable career option due to fan-friendly leagues is also a decisive part of developing the industry’s potential. Above all, there is a shortage of appropriate content on a dedicated platform making the sportspersons completely reliant on personal coaching. In short, ample opportunities are valuing a whopping $900Mn that remains untapped – SportsApp is perfect for filling the gaps by growing as the ideal aggregator for India’s sports eco-system.”
‘Content’ is the most significant business driver that moves both ‘Commerce’ and ‘Community’ and empowers learning. The principal USP of the SportsApp lies in its algorithm that measures an individual player and loses their rating/value. This value is then pitched to big names to trade sponsorship. The market ranking benefits athletes understand their potential early at the onset of their career and remove the possibility of exploitation in advertisements and sponsorship, which is quite prevalent otherwise.
Shashank further adds: “After tasting the algorithm, the product-market fit, the business model, our initial success in getting both sponsorships and users are giving us the courage to scale further. Some of the user athletes are already playing at India Juniors. They have come up as the winners at ‘Khelo India School (KIYG), Indian National Teams, KIUG, Commonwealth Games, and Olympics. “
SportsApp has targeted to capture 60% of the market share in the next 5 Years.
The Community platform also provides regular updates on your sports events, besides sending alerts on sports jobs available within the industry. Several veterans and renowned sports personalities, and excellent coaches also form an integral part of SportsApp. You can also join this community and follow your senior athletes, federations, academies, and coaches to stay updated with the latest feeds. Otherwise, you can directly reach out to them via an inbuilt messaging feature available on the app if you require any support.
If you are looking for more info about this innovative venture or if you want to be a part of it, you can directly visit their portal to install the app from the Android Playstore. Don’t forget to look at their social media handles on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
