Startup Story Of SportsApp - An All In One App For Sports
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Are you also a sports lover? If so, you might have also felt the need to have a platform that could do it all for the player within you. To bridge this gap in the Indian Sports sector, Shashank Mishra founded SportsApp in the year 2018.
SportsApp is an aggregated platform that allows athletes, coaches, sports academies and sponsors to get connected on a single platform. Everyone on the SportsApp team played sports at different levels and felt the pain that most players had right now. So, the main idea is to bind everyone together so that they can make this nation a good sporting nation by organizing this sector.
Launched in March 2018, SportsApp has seen the growth of 20X in downloads, 56X in MAUs and 80X in DAUs. Interestingly, the startup clocked an impressive 4X scale-up in revenues during the pandemic year of 2020-21 FY. Know all about the Startup Story of SportsApp in the post ahead.
SportsApp - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | SportsApp |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Delhi NCR |
| Founder | Shashank Mishra |
| Industry | Sports |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Parent Organization | Hanusha Networks Private Limited |
| Website | sportsapp.co.in |
About SportsApp and How it Works?
SportsApp - Industry Details
SportsApp - Founder and Team
How SportsApp Started?
SportsApp - Logo and Tagline
SportsApp - Startup Launch
SportsApp - USP
SportsApp - Business Model and Revenue Model
SportsApp - Startup Challenges
SportsApp - Funding and Investors
SportsApp - Advisors and Mentors
SportsApp - Growth
SportsApp - Competitors
SportsApp - Future Plans
SportsApp - FAQs
About SportsApp and How it Works?
SportsApp is a platform for connecting sports professionals as well as sports academies and sponsors. The idea behind SportsApp is to create a portal in which all the stakeholders in the sports industry can connect. SportsApp is curbing the information gap, visibility gap and funding gap for sports stakeholders in India.
The SportsApp team believes that there are three things that are coming in a way to make this nation a better sporting nation:
- Information gap: Not having enough information on different events like trials, training camps, inadequate information about their favourite sports, lack of information of good coaches nearby the required areas and also of corporate sponsors who are looking to fund athletes.
- Visibility: Player visibility is the main issue in India. Even after winning big events, most players are not known to many. Sports academies in India do not have visibility initiatives to connect with players, their parents, coaches, etc.
- Funding: Financial constraints for players are a big hurdle in their way to pursue a career in sports. There is no portal where these players can connect with corporate sponsors for funding.
SportsApp connects all the stakeholders of the sports industry in India. Here they can follow one another, share relevant thoughts, get updates about upcoming events, sports job positions, apply for sponsorships, etc.
SportsApp - Industry Details
The sports culture is coming to India. We are a nation of 1391 million people. Out of which 30-50 million are actively engaged in sports and want to make a career in sports. This is the ideal time for sports technology and fitness startups to enter the market as the government is coming forward with its initiatives to increase awareness among sports youth.
SportsApp - Founder and Team
Shashank Mishra is the founder of SportsApp.
Shashank met Himanshu at Delhi Technological University and explained to him the full concept. In no time, Himanshu joined Shashank's initiative. The SportsApp team comprises of:
- Shashank Mishra (Founder & CEO) (BTech & MBA)
- Himanshu Nain (Head of Technology) (BTech)
- Prashant Chandra (Head of Marketing and Sales) (BTech & MBA)
- Mohit Prakash Yadav (Head of Operations) (B.Sc & MBA)
- Deepak Kadian (Head of Design) (BTech)
How SportsApp Started?
The idea of SportsApp struck Shashank when he was in his final year of BTech. Turns out he was attending a sports academy that reminded him of going to another city to get some information about the great academies of his time. Until now, there is no portal where one can get sufficient information easily and register for it. After BTech, Shashank joined B-School where he participated in a startup event powered by Google and backed a runner-up position. So, this fueled him up to bring this idea on road, as sports has always been his passion.
Sumeet Kapur (Co-Founder & Former CFO of Nearbuy) was the first one who believed in this idea and Sumeet has been Shashank's mentor so far. Also, after this event, Sumeet happened to be the first investor in Shashank's startup. Post this, Shashank started doing market research by visiting different sports academies, meeting different coaches, visiting Delhi University to meet national-level players.
Everyone liked the concept and said they need a product like this. So he started designing the prototype. He then started looking for a tech co-founder at Delhi Technological University where he met Himanshu (Co-Founder SportsApp) who helped him in building this product with his efficient technical skills. Following the launch of SportsApp, Shashank was selected as an incubator at the Center for Innovation and Incubation (IIF) of the University of Technology in Delhi and was initiated by the Delhi government.
SportsApp - Logo and Tagline
The tagline "Empowering the sports star of tomorrow" says that the SportsApp gives the power to future athletes to do better in the sports ecosystem.
SportsApp - Startup Launch
After developing the application, Shashank launched SportsApp in an event called "Aahvaan", a sports event in Delhi Technological University. And it is also the largest sports festival in North India. SportsApp had more than 200 registration on the launch day.
SportsApp is a networking portal so they focused on serving the first 500 people well in the network. The idea behind this was to trigger the contagious effect. They have partnered with many sports academies, Coaches in Delhi- NCR region and have got them on board.
SportsApp - USP
SportsApp has created a unique financial logic that provides players with their market value and they connect players with corporate sponsors after verifying them on the app. This way corporates also get to see the profile of the player which is fully verified and with proper analytics.
SportsApp - Business Model and Revenue Model
The SportsApp business model looks something like this:
- Talent Solution: In this, the application connects players with corporate sponsors using their unique valuation logic. SportsApp charges a commission on the athlete's side for this service.
- Market Solution: SportsApp also generates revenue from making bookings for academies, events, etc. and by promoting sports academies on SportsApp to get more leads for the academies. Corporates can also promote their sports products on SportsApp.
- Subscription: Users in the future can subscribe to the app to use more features.
Piyush Mishra
SportsApp - Startup Challenges
One of the major challenges faced by SportsApp is that this sector is totally unorganized so it's very hard to change people's mindset and make them understand that this can help them in a better way rather than the traditional approach that they are following. The main problem is that they are very much comfortable with the traditional way of doing things.
SportsApp - Funding and Investors
SportsApp has raised a total of $174K in funding over 3 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Aug 20, 2020, from a Seed round.
| Date | Stage | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2020 | Seed Round | $140K |
| Jul 2019 | Angel Round | $30K |
| Sept 2018 | Angel Round | $4K |
SportsApp had backed angel round funding from Sumeet Kapur (Co-Founder & Ex-CFO of Nearbuy). This helped the startup to develop the product and to launch it in the market in a better way. Also, the angel round funding helped them in getting market validation initially. SportsApp has also raised seed round funding from Shubhrendu Khoche (Ex-VP Mastercard) who is a Singapore-based angel investor.
Noida-based startup SportsApp raised $140K in a seed round led by noted names like Shubhrendu Khoche, Anirban Basu, Sanjay Ahuja, Ram Ganesan and Kuldeep Puri, among others.
This unique startup which primarily addresses the aspiring sportspersons of India uses a proprietary tech platform to solve the asymmetric access to “Community, Sponsorships, and Career."
Ashwini
SportsApp - Advisors and Mentors
The list of advisors for SportsApp goes like this:
- Sumeet Kapur (Co-founder & Ex-CFO Nearbuy)
- Shubhrendu Khoche ( Ex-VP Mastercard)
- Anirudh Kalia (Sr VP StarSports & Hotstar)
SportsApp - Growth
- SportsApp has seen the growth of 20X in downloads, 56X in MAUs and 80X in DAUs. Interestingly, the startup clocked an impressive 4X scale-up in revenues during the pandemic year of 2020-21 FY.
- Revenue INR 18 lakhs for 2019.
- Clients- Cosco, NFSportech, SteelBird, Wellcure, Alcis Sports to only name a few.
SportsApp - Competitors
Though the sector is unorganized still there are quite a few players in the market who roundabout operate in the same target market. There are startups like RunAdam, SportsBrick to name a few. They all might have different unique selling propositions but they cater to the same audience as SportsApp.
SportsApp - Future Plans
SportsApp has set its eyes on capturing 60% of the market share in the coming 5 Years. The company aims to have all kinds of sports sponsorship, ground bookings, event registrations to be done on SportsApp. They are on their way to breaking all the traditional ways which are being used until now and are moving towards making India a better sporting nation.
SportsApp - FAQs
What is SportsApp?
SportsApp is an app that allows athletes, coaches, sports academies and sponsors to connect on a single platform.
Who is the founder of SportsApp?
The SportsApp founders are Shashank Mishra and Himanshu Nain.
Is SportsApp an Indian company?
Yes, SportsApp is an Indian company headquartered in New Delhi.
What facilities I can avail of in SportsApp?
- You can connect with Coaches, Fellow Athletes, Physios, Nutritionists and other Industry Professionals via instant messaging.
- You can put up your sports-related queries which are then answered by Senior Coaches, Veteran Athletes and Similar Professionals, from the industry.
- You can receive updates for job openings within the sports industry.
- You can get regular updates on sports events happening near you.
- You can also apply for sponsorship.
How does SportsApp make money?
Generally, free apps use these strategies to make money - Advertising, Subscriptions, Selling Merchandise, In-App Purchases, Sponsorship, Referral Marketing, Collecting and Selling Data, Freemium Upsell, Physical Purchases, Transaction Fees, and Crowdfunding.
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