India’s love for sports runs deep, and this is evident from the fact that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her budget speech on July 23 allocated a massive INR 3,442.32 Cr to the sports ministry, up from INR 3,396.96 Cr for the previous financial year. Of this, INR 900 Cr was set aside for Khelo India, the government’s flagship project to promote sports at the grassroots level.
The impact of the government intervention has been such that India has today become a global hotspot for sporting leagues, led by the Indian Premier League and followed by leagues like Pro Kabaddi and the Indian Super League.
Despite the thriving landscape, the world’s third largest startup ecosystem has not been able to make the most of this opportunity. What makes us say this? Well, while there is inflow of VC funds in the system (via investments in franchise teams), tech adoption in Indian sports has been a laggard.
Collectively, Indian sports tech startups could raise a mere $139 Mn across 29 funding deals between 2014 and November 2022. However, we believe, there is enough white space that can be easily filled by new-age tech startups — from simplifying the process of booking venues for matches and providing analytics to tracking performance of athletes, and we have barely scratched the surface here.
However, despite the funding gloom, momentum is building in the Indian sports tech space with notable figures like Shikhar Dhawan launching sports tech funds, IIT Madras hosting its first Sports Tech Start-Up Conclave, and Centre Court Capital introducing an INR 350 Cr sports tech fund.
While this could be the start of a new beginning for the country’s sports tech startups, let’s steal a glance at some of the most promising ones that are destined to lead the country’s sports tech opportunity projected to surpass the $3.5 Bn mark by 2027.
Editor’s Note: The is neither an exhaustive list nor a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.
Startups Scoring Big In The Indian Sports Tech Arena
FITPASS
Founded by Akshay Verma and Ayushi Verma in 2015, FITPASS connects users with gyms and fitness studios. It offers a fitness subscription service that aims to make fitness accessible and affordable for consumers in India.
The startup offers an app-based pass that allows users to work out anytime, anywhere, with access to over 8,100 partner gyms and fitness centres in more than 75 cities across India.
FITPASS provides a range of services, including AI-driven health assessments, customised wellness plans, personalised nutritionist services, and unlimited doctor consultations.
Beyond just fitness access, FITPASS offers a comprehensive suite of services, including personalised nutrition advice (FITFEAST) and AI-driven coaching (FITCOACH), making it a one-stop solution for fitness and wellness.
In 2017, VC fund Shooting Star invested $1 Mn in the startup. Notably, the VC fund is backed by Olympic gold medalist and Indian ace shooter Abhinav Bindra.
Footrax
Having raised significant capital from various investors, including the Government of India, Footrax — formerly known as Indifoot Sport — is focussed on designing and manufacturing high-tech IoT devices for sports purposes.
Founded in Ahmedabad in 2017, the startup creates affordable performance-tracking technology and devices not only for professional athletes but also for young individuals looking to monitor performance and enhance results.
The startup that counts Ahmedabad Racquet Academy and Shaishya Sports Academy as its key partners uses GPS-enabled wearables, empowering athletes to make informed, data-driven decisions to up their game.
Game Theory
Backed by Rainmatter and Nithin Kamath, Bengaluru-based Game Theory matches players with similar sports skills. It does this by measuring individuals’ skills in sports via its computer vision-enabled smart tech courts, which record and analyse players’ on different levels.
Along with offering personalised coaching, the startup provides deep stats into one’s progress. Founded by Sudeep Kulkarni in 2019, the startup also counts WEH Ventures and Prequate Advisory among its key investors.
In November last year, Game Theory acquired sports analytics startup Matchday.ai to leverage its tech stack, including computer vision and AI capabilities. This acquisition took place after the company bagged $2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round a month before the acquisition.
Hudle
Founded by Suhail Narain, Arjun Singh Verma, and Sonam Taneja in 2015, Hudle is a mobile app that enables sports enthusiasts to find and book more than 40 sports at more than 1,000 venues across the country.
By facilitating an active lifestyle with a social aspect, Hudle enhances traditional fitness activities and improves overall access to sports.
The Delhi-based startup counts Inflection Point Ventures, Survam Partners, Indian Angel Network, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane and badminton player and coach Pullela Gopichand as its key investors.
Last year, Hudle acquired Delhi-based startup Sportido for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its position in North India for amateur sports.
KheloMore
Founded in 2016 by former Indian cricketer Jatin Paranjape, along with Ujwal Deole, KheloMore facilitates sports enthusiasts with venue booking options such as football, cricket turfs and badminton courts. Through its “Pay and Play” feature, users can pay for any sports venue and play right away.
Its array of programmes include personal training, nutrition and weight management, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and flexibility.
The startup last raised $2 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round in July 2024 to expand into more cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad and Rajkot as well as to set up a network of training centres.
It aspires to partner with schools and other stakeholders to launch cricket academies across the country. It has already joined hands with Cricket Victoria, All India Pickleball Association and Urbansports. KheloMore operates in several Indian cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
Founded by Pratish Raj, Tushar Raj and Ashish Anand in 2019, Machaxi aspires to transform India into a sports playing nation with technology enabled sports coaching where parents can track kids progress across various technical parameters of the sport.
It offer “playing and coaching membership” to users via its app. The company has multiple partner centres and coaches across Bengaluru to provide sports enthusiasts with space to play and learn. Additionally, Machaxi provides tech-enabled sports coaching for kids and a wide range of sports equipment on its app.
In June this year, Machaxi bagged INR 4.8 Cr in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from Curefit’s cofounder Ankit Nagori.
Padel Park
The sports tech startup was founded in 2022 when Parth Jindal, Ronak Daftary, Jigar Doshi, Nikhil Sachdev, and Pratik Doshi were introduced to the racket sport Padel tennis through online videos.
Padel Park aims to foster the sports of padel in the country by building a complete ecosystem around it — ranging from constructing courts to teaching the sport and organising championships.
The startup connects Padel enthusiasts and allows them to book time and games at its padel centres in Mumbai. The company partnered with Sky Padel Spain to build padel courts. Currently, it claims to have 10 operational courts across Mumbai and plans to increase this number to 45 courts across India by the end of this year.
Backed by JSW Sports’ Parth Jindal, the startup claims to have clocked a revenue run rate of INR 2.4 Cr in FY24.
SportVot
The Mumbai-based startup was founded in 2019 by Sidhhant Agarwal, Shubhangi Gupta and Yash Bhagwatkar to provide tournament organisers, sports bodies and clubs with a live-streaming platform.
SportVot enables sports organisations and tournament organisers to broadcast their events globally, utilising premium features like multi-camera video capture, interactive scoring graphics, detailed scoring for over 15 sports, remote commentary, automated player and match highlights, and opportunities for monetisation through sponsorship and advertising.
In February, it raised INR 9.4 Cr (approximately $1.1 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India to expand its tech capabilities and product offerings.
It counts the Brahmaputra Volleyball League in Assam, the Maharashtra State Kabaddi Association, the Football Delhi Association, and the Nashik District Cricket Association among its partner associations.
SportsForLife
Incorporated in March 2024, SportsForLife (SFL) was founded by ecommerce unicorn Dealshare’s cofounder Sourjyendu Medda nine months after he quit his previous company.
The Bengaluru-based startup is committed to revitalising India’s sporting culture and is on a mission is to redefine how the nation perceives and engages with sports. It aims to create a “lasting impact on India’s sporting culture” by assisting sports academies across India.
As per company’s filings with the MCA, it has raised over INR 9.40 Cr ($1.1 Mn) in its seed funding round. SFL counts Blume Ventures, Roots Ventures and Kunal Shah’s QED Innovations Lab among its early backers
SportsSkill
Considering their love for sports, Abhinav Sinha and Chetan Desai founded SportsSkill in 2021 to offer sports enthusiasts a platform to track their performances and connect with coaches.
The startup offers a subscription-based platform for sports enthusiasts to analyse and track their performances and connect with coaches. Its offerings include skill and performance tracking, goal setting, progress monitoring with charts & graphs, rest & recovery tracking.
A few days ago, SportsSkill roped in WestBridge Capital’s cofounder KP Balaraj as an investor. The startup is planning to raise more funding next month.
StanceBeam
Among the many startups supported by prominent Indian celebrities, StanceBeam stands out for partnering with cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as a mentor and brand ambassador.
Founded by Arminder Thind and Ishwinder Pal Singh in 2017, StanceBeam provides smart sensor and analytics solutions for Cricket. As a part of these solutions, the startup claims to provide motion analysis and insights to help athletes in improving their game.
Not just this, the Bengaluru-based startup claims to develop video analysis. Other than Cricket, the company caters to athletes across various kinds of sports, including baseball, softball, badminton and other fitness activities.
str8bat
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionise the way athletes track performance. Aligning with this vision, Str8bat offers AI-infused sports solutions to make coaching and learning more scientific.
It claims to have developed a patented sports tech platform that offers athletes with real-time data analytics. Through its flagship product, the company claims to offer cricket batting analytics, including bat lift angle, bat speed, timing index and a complete 360-degree view of any shot. The platform has already recorded over a couple of million shots, with around 400 elite-level players currently using Str8bat.
Founded by Gagan Daga, Rahul Nagar and Madhusudan R in 2017, Str8bat recently (October 2024) secured $3.5 Mn (around INR 29.4 Cr) in a Series A funding round led by Exfinity Venture Partners. The startup counts Rajasthan Royals, Cricket Australia and SG Cricket as its clients.
Stupa Sports Analytics
Gurugram-based Stupa Sports Analytics was founded by Megha Gambhir and Deepak Malik in 2019 to bridge the gap between technology and sports.
The startup offers AI-driven solutions like player performance analytics to sports federations, helping them digitise their operations and management. Besides, it provides fan-engaging content for TV broadcasters, majorly catering to sports like badminton, padel, pickleball, volleyball and rugby.
Currently offering services in the B2B space, the platform now aims at penetrating into the B2C market in India and the US for better fan and player experience. The startup counts Centre Court Capital and PeerCapital among its key investors.
In May this year, it secured INR 28 Cr in its Pre-Series A funding round co-led by Centre Court Capital and PeerCapital. The capital is being used to expand its global footprint and to scale up its product stack.
