Centre Court Capital (CCC), a sports-focused venture capital fund, announced the launch of its maiden Rs 350 crore ($42m) fund on Thursday, of which it has already secured Rs 200 crore in commitments from marquee domestic investors and top athletes.
The investors includes the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), PremjiInvest, USK Capital, large corporate sports investors such as GMR Sports, and SG Sports, besides the Sajjan Jindal Trust. The firm said that some top athletes and media figures also participated in the fundraise, without disclosing any specific details.
Centre Court Capital said it will also shortly launch an offshore feeder fund in GIFT City that will enable them to raise capital from international investors.
“The fund will back founders bringing innovative tech and push the boundaries of the sports and gaming ecosystem,” the company said.
CCC is founded by Mustafa Ghouse, former CEO of JSW Sports, and Alok Samtaney, a former investment director with TVS Capital and Sabre Partners. The Sajjan Jindal Family Trust is the anchor investor, while Parth Jindal, scion of the $23 billion JSW Group, is the CEO.
“With 396 million gamers, we’re the second largest population of gamers in the world and the gaming sector is poised to grow at a 5-year CAGR of 21 per cent,” Ghouse said in a statement.
“We firmly believe in the potential of the space and are focussed on backing exceptional founders who believe they are now ready to compete with the best in class, globally,” he added.
“Over the last decade, we have backed, invested and developed sport in India in a big way, and our commitment stems from our belief in the potential of sports in India,” Jindal said.
“We’ve also been tracking the growth of the eSports and gaming sectors and we’re excited to see the champions from India emerge,” he added.
Ghouse told Moneycontrol that they will scout for investment opportunities in areas such as sports technology, fitness, gaming and eSports. This includes sports analytics, content, broadcast, fan engagement, gaming studios and publishers and ancillary businesses that feed into this ecosystem.
Centre Court Capital plans to make about 15-18 investments from this fund with average investments ranging from Rs 8 crore to Rs 20 crore. About 50% of the fund will be reserved for follow-on investments, Ghouse said.
Ghouse said that the fund has already made two investments so far: one in the broadcast technology space, currently focused on cricket but expanding into other sports, and the other in the sports analytics space.
“Tech is dominating the narrative of how sport is played and consumed, and we want to be at the forefront of this revolution. We have seen a tremendous rise in both public and private investment in sports which has more than quadrupled since 2020. As a result, we’re seeing an acceleration in the number of startups that are building from India for India and the world,” Ghouse said.
He said that he has been tracking the types of opportunities in sports tech, fitness, gaming, and eSports, as well as their depth in the Indian startup ecosystem over the past few years. He believes that the “time is right to launch a fund that is focused on this space” in the country.
Ghouse, a former Asian Games bronze medalist and member of the Indian Davis Cup team, was the founding chief executive of JSW Sports, the sports arm of the JSW Group, in 2012.
In this role, he led the acquisition and operations of five professional sports teams, including the IPL teams Delhi Capitals (owned by JSW GMR Cricket, a 50-50 joint venture between JSW Sports and GMR Sports) and Delhi Capitals Women’s Team, football club Bengaluru FC, Pro Kabaddi League team Haryana Steelers, and South African professional T20 cricket team Pretoria Capitals.
Ghouse also conceptualised and developed the Inspire Institute of Sport, India’s first privately funded Olympic training facility, which trains over 3,000 athletes across India. During his stint, he also managed numerous Indian athletes, including Olympic medal winners such as Neeraj Chopra, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia.
Samtaney, on the other hand, comes with over 15 years of private equity investing experience between TVS Capital Funds and Sabre Partners. He worked across fintech, consumer and agriculture sectors at TVS Capital Funds and managed a portfolio across financial services, healthcare and infrastructure sectors at Sabre Partners.
