The SportsApp Raises $140k From A Group of Angel Investors in Seed Round
By – Ashwathy Nair
This one-of-a-kind firm, which primarily caters to India’s budding athletes, employs a proprietary tech platform to address the asymmetric access to “Community, Sponsorships, and Career.” SportsApp said in a statement that the funding will be used to bolster its go-to-market, technological, and marketing capabilities. This should help to accelerate the startup’s rapid development in key KPIs since its inception.
Since its launch in March 2018, SportsApp has seen a 20-fold increase in downloads, a 56-fold increase in MAUs, and an 80-fold increase in DAUs. Surprisingly, during the pandemic year of 2020-21 fiscal year, the startup had a 4X revenue increase. “India is taking a huge hit in world sporting events due to a lack of access to critical resources like awareness, sponsorships, and professional support for young athletes early in their careers. We need to become a force to be reckoned with at the Olympics and other world events as an emerging world power like India.
To achieve this goal, we must first provide better access to resources for our young athletes,” said Shashank Mishra (SportApp’s Founder), who was once a promising cricketer but had to abandon his goals owing to a lack of resources. He is now dedicated to breaking down the same obstacles for future athletes and causing a much-needed shake-up in the sports sector. SportsApp is an aggregator platform for India’s aspiring athletes that combines Community, Content, and Commerce.
It aims to ‘Empower Sports Stars Of Tomorrow’ by utilising technology to eliminate inequity in the sports sector. SportsApp allows aspiring athletes to connect with and use the full sporting ecosystem, including physiotherapists, coaches, sponsors, nutritionists, and other professionals. Surprisingly, the Indian government has recently placed a fresh emphasis on sports as an important topic for the country’s youth. Shashank’s thoughts on the upcoming years of this Digital Community for the Sports Industry and what makes it so important in today’s world.
“Patronage, Providence, Potential, and Platform are the four Ps that make the sporting ecosystem ideally suited for a tech-centric change. At the moment, there is a massive asymmetry in brand patronage, with 90 per cent or more endorsements and support going to only the top 5-6 cricket stars. The Indian government’s recent decision to incorporate “Sports” into the curriculum from extracurricular activities, as well as other efforts such as “Khelo India,” is already laying a firm foundation.
The rise of sports as a viable professional path, thanks to fan-friendly leagues, is also helping to boost the industry’s total potential. Above all, there is a scarcity of meaningful content on a dedicated platform, forcing athletes to rely on personal coaching. In short, there is a $900 million untapped window of opportunity – SportsApp fits well in this market to address the gaps by becoming the right aggregator for India’s sports ecosystem.” The most important engine of their business is ‘Content,’ which moves both ‘Community’ and ‘Commerce,’ as well as enabling learning.
SportsApp’s main selling point is its algorithm, which rates each player and assigns a rating/value to them. Brands are then pitched on this value in order to sell sponsorship. The market ranking assists athletes in realising their full potential early in their careers, reducing the risk of exploitation in the name of endorsements and sponsorship, which is all too common otherwise. “Having proven the algorithm, the business model, and the product-market fit, our initial success in attracting both users and sponsorships appears to give us the confidence to go even further,” Shashank continues.
Some of our user athletes have already represented India at the junior level or have won medals at the ‘Khelo India School (KIYG), KIUG, Commonwealth Games, Olympics, and Indian National Teams.’ The Community platform also sends out regular updates on sports events in your sport, as well as job alerts for available sports employment in the business. SportsApp also includes a number of veterans, as well as current sports personalities and coaches.
