Sports-tech app Sportido raises pre-Series A funding
Noida-based sports app Sportido, operated by IDO Sport Pvt. Ltd, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a pre-Series A round from early-stage investment group Inflection Point Ventures, the company said in a statement.
The company said it will use the funds for product development and geographical expansion.
The app facilitates booking of sports venues and helps people connect with like-minded people who play sports. The app is live in the National Capital Region, according to its website.
The startup was founded in August 2015 by Neeraj Aggarwala, Vishal Lunia and Akhil R.
Aggarwala is also a founder and chief product and marketing officer at insurance portal Easypolicy.com. Lunia previously co-founded Aurbane, an online marketplace for designer wear apparels and accessories. Akhil earlier worked at Easypolicy.
“Sports and fitness is not just a new trend but is increasingly becoming a way of life… However, finding people and places to play your sport, in your area, at your preferred time is hard and that is why people don’t end up playing despite high willingness,” Aggarwala said in the statement.
In October 2016, the startup had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Sumpoorna Group, an investment advisory syndicate that operates across verticals such as retail, domestic and foreign institutional investors.
This is at least the second investment by Inflection Point Ventures within four months. In August, it had backed Delhi-based Wishup, which offers chat-based task management services.
Inflection Point is a by-invitation-only member network connecting the investor community with startups. It was founded in 2017 by nine CFOs and finance professionals. These include Vinay Bansal and Sumeet Kapur, who were former chief financial officers of Wildcraft and Nearbuy.com, respectively.
Bansal and Kapur led the investment from Inflection Point into Sportido. “We believe that the sports sector in India is at its tipping point and with Sportido, we wanted to be part of the growth that’s bound to come,” said Kapur.
Deals in the space
A few other sports-tech startups have raised funding over the past year or so.
Earlier this year, Gurugram-based cricket-focused social gaming platform CricNWin had raised an undisclosed amount from Chinese accelerator and venture fund ZDream Ventures.
In August last year, India Sports Flashes Pvt. Ltd, which operates sports content app Sports Flashes, raised an undisclosed amount from media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd.
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