NEW DELHI: Sports social network platform and marketplace Sportido has raised pre-series A funding from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) for an undisclosed amount, Economic Times reports.
IPV is known to invest in the early stages of many Indian start-ups.
Sportido will leverage IPV’s funding to help the company expand into other cities in the country.
With over 40,000 downloads since its launch in August 2016 and based out of Noida, Sportido, co-owned by Delhi’s Neeraj Aggarwala and Akhil R, is a sports discovery app that helps people find like-minded sports, fitness and health enthusiasts as well as coaches to meet and connect with, at places convenient as per their location across more than 700 sports. This is made possible through its advanced algorithm.
“We are seeing a positive shift in people’s mindset when it comes to sports and fitness activities. Most of the urban population wants to play sport but has been starved of opportunities till now. Finding people and places to play sport in your area at your preferred time is hard and that’s the primary reason why people don’t end up playing Sport, despite high willingness. Our mission is to help everyone do more sport and it’s great to see our early users doing just that with the help of our app.” Aggarwala was quoted as saying to ET.
“We are excited to receive this investment. In addition to the funding, we are certain that IPV’s network and expertise across functions will be a huge catalyst to our growth. We, at Sportido, are creating an entire ecosystem for Sports and Fitness that adds value throughout the vertical. Through the use of technology, introduction of innovative and inclusive formats, opening up of more facilities and unlocking access to existing ones, we see Sportido as a huge part of India’s Sports and Fitness revolution.” he added.
The app also offers users to the facility to book ideal time slots at sports venues like courts, grounds, swimming pools, gyms and events like treks, marathons or tournaments as well. The investment was driven by IPV co-founder Sumeet Kapur, who was earlier with Nearbuy.com as CFO and Vinay Bansal, Wildcraft’s ex-CFO, ET reports.
“More and more people are finding sports as the most engaging physical activity as compared to other options. It also gives a refreshing mental break, away from their daily activities and smartphones. We believe that Sports sector in India is now at its tipping point and with Sportido, we wanted to be part of the growth that’s bound to come.” Kapur told the business daily.
