Sports Start-ups – Dutch Uncles

All You Need to Know About the High-Performance Coach Education Programme

Aakash Sharma — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 08:30:39 +0000

The Minister of State for Youth and Sports, Sri Kiren Rijiju recently launched the ‘High Performance Coach Education Programme’ which is focused on athletic training under the auspices of Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports Patiala. The seven-module course will last six months and as many as 250 top coaches from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) will form a core group to train the country’s top talent.

The course, launched specifically for training and equipping Indian coaches with the best skills, is vast in its importance. It will expand the high academic and technical values in the Indian professional sports coaching segment.

With the programme, the government aims to build a pool of elite Indian coaches while bolstering the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. Its application across the board will make sports Atmanirbhar too. The long-term goal of the step is to put India among the top 10 nations in the Olympics, according to Minister Kiren Rijiju.

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The High-Performance Coach Education Programme will enable the mastery of Indian coaches across all disciplines in Indian sports and give them an edge over foreign coaches.

High-Performance Coach Education Programme Pedagogy

During the programme, participants will have a two-week hands-on course at various high-performance centres across the country. The size of each class will be limited to 20 students.

The teaching methods of this six-month course include lectures by top coaches and sports organisers in India and abroad. Theoretical approaches will consist of case studies, research work and interactive lessons.

Leading sports science experts, sports coaches, athletes, state sports managers and resource experts from national sports federations and private sports organisations will interact with students.

What is the benefit of the programme for the business fraternity?

While the programme will help in the rise of Indian coaches and enable a lower reliance on foreign coaches, it will also boost the coaching fabric of India on a national level. As more coaches get equipped with the best skills, the entire system will encourage excellence.

Coaching is already a well established Indian industry; Kota is proof enough of that. Private coaching industry players can also get on board with the programme’s portfolio and start new channels to include sports coaching as a mainstream part of their business.

Including sports, athletics and other physical sporting segments into the coaching industry will vastly help the Indian sports image to improve globally and make the players more confident of a future in sports than just in traditional academia.

An ecosystem of coaching consultants can also be initiated by industry stakeholders, which will improve the basic structure of sports coaching in India. Furthermore, the coach education programme will produce an entire industry of excellent-level players who can pursue a career as coaches and expand the scope of sports on a national level.

The post All You Need to Know About the High-Performance Coach Education Programme appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Revenant Esports to Become a Rs. 200 Crore Brand By 2022

Aakash Sharma — Tue, 11 May 2021 08:35:03 +0000

Revenant Esports is one of the most prominent esports companies in the country and has grown into a dominant company in the division since its inception. It is a next-generation sports platform dedicated to working with the best gaming athletes in the world. The company intends to continue to improve the value and experience of esports by multichannel collaboration among athletes, brands, content creators and communities.

Revenant Esports: A Prime Habitat for All Esports Players

The recent funding from investor Sajan Raj Kurup in Revenant Esports has taken the company’s goal one step further. Revenant Esports plans to become a Rs 200 brand in the next 18 months. Kurup, a serial marketer and investor, has invested approximately $1 million in Revenant Esports and has a 40% stake in India’s fastest growing gaming company.

Revenant Esports has more than 25 esports under its ambit, including popular mobile games such as Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Clash of Clans and FreeFire. The injection of the new funding will allow the company to expand its reach to the gaming community and promote a unique consumer experience.

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As the firm has become one of the fastest-growing players in the world, stakeholders are confident that Revenant will grow tenfold in the next two years.

How has Revenant Esports made inroads in the Indian Esports Scene?

Revenant Esports is a destination for both casual and professional gamers and ambitious gaming enthusiasts and content creators. Since its inception, the company has set up significant infrastructure to stream games and esports. The company has charted tremendous progress in the Level 2 gaming market.

With approximately 15,000 active players participating and 20,000 hours of watch time through their content creator network, tournaments and athletes, the company aims to grow further in the field of e-sports.

With around 300 million players, India is one of the top five esports markets in the world. Also, because of COVID-19, online games attracted more attention as people remained home. With the necessity of social distancing, telecommuting has become the new norm, and physical sporting events are remaining limited, boosting e-sports and mobile gaming online events.

Indian Gaming Scene – A Breeding Ground for Opportunities

India’s vast esports and gaming ecosystem has become the world’s third-largest hub, following only the United States and China. An increasing number of gaming firms have entered the unicorn club with over $1 billion valuations after raising large funding rounds.

Esports are a hit in India. According to Venture Intelligence data, venture capital funds spent $438 million on gaming entrepreneurs in India in 2020. The industry estimates that the number of esports players in the country will double to 17 million by 2021.

Moreover, this is the first instance that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has considered esports as a sporting event in the 2022 Asian Games. The move has given even more clout to the segment, and opportunities for new start-ups are aplenty.

One thing is clear- as Revenant Esports has got significant backers, the move has opened up roads for new players and start-ups to cover leaps in this highly growing market space.

The post Revenant Esports to Become a Rs. 200 Crore Brand By 2022 appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Top 10 Sport Start-Ups in India

Tanisha Achrekar — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:35:04 +0000

Be it Amir Khan’s Lagaan, Shahrukh Khan’s Chak De India or Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom, these movies reflect the deep-rooted relationship between India and sports. Start-ups are leveraging on this relationship and coming up with their unique discoveries. Combining technology and sport, start-ups have created some of the best sports apps and services in the country.

The top 10 sport start-ups in India and what makes them the best.

Dream 11

This unicorn start-up is now a well-established name in and out of the sports world. Sponsoring the IPL to bring fantasy platform in India, the start-up continues raising bars higher and higher. Users on their platform can play fantasy cricket, basketball, hockey, volleyball, football, kabaddi, handball, rugby or even baseball. With more than 10 crore users, they are determined to set new records every day.

SportsApp

SportsApp is a platform integrated simply for connecting one sport lover to another. The app has a wide range of players who have played at different levels and have different experiences. SportsApp was launched to get all players together on their platform. Founded in 2018, the start-up has received funding of $50,000 in its angel round in August 2019.

Adda52

When it comes to playing the right cards, the founders of Adda52 know it all. The Delhi-based start-up allows players to play several card games online with real money. The growing popularity of this start-up led to their merger with Delta Corp in 2017. Indians have always been fond of card games and to no surprise, their app holds more than 20 lakh downloads. Their authentic and easy payment process has bought in popularity amongst users.

Mobile Premier League

Mobile Premier League popularly known as MPL is a tech start-up based in Bangalore. Directly competing with Dream 11, MPL is also a widespread name in the fantasy cricket industry. The company has received fundings from Sequoia Capital India, BeeNext and Times Internet. Their total funding reportedly amounts to $40.5 million. The platform has one of the most popular faces in India, Virat Kholi as their brand ambassador.

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Start-ups are leveraging on the deep-rooted relationship between India and sports.

Run Adam

Newly part of the sport start-up league, Run Adam is already making headlines as it is backed by MS Dhoni. Sources have it that Dhoni has bought a 25% stake in this company. Run Adams is concentrated on uniting sportspersons, professionals and business on their integrated online portal. The company offers athletes to connect with all the needful resources they require in just a click. The start-up also raised $1.5 million in the seed-funding round.

KOOH Sports

KOOH Sports is an international sport start-up with its headquarters in Mumbai. They provide sports education, training and technology intending to promote a healthy lifestyle. Establishing sports programs in schools, they are developing interest amongst children in sports on a foundation level. KOOH is reportedly funded by Elevate Sports, Faering Capital, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HDFC Ltd.

Collectabillia

The Bangalore-based start-up is a celebrity commerce company. On their online portal, fans can win memorabilia autographed by their icons through an auction. Along with that, there are several merchandise available too. They aim to inculcate the mindset of personalised merchandise along the same lines as buying an art. The star-crazy market of India is a huge boon to Collectabillia.

Time Of Sports

The Time Of Sports is majorly focused on providing a sports platform for everyone in India with their vision of creating a fit nation. The start-up provides consultancy services to the sports and business sectors along with hosting several sporting events. They have observed an untapped potential in the country when it comes to sports and fitness. Time Of Sports has its presence across UAE, CIS, Singapore and Africa apart from India.

Playo

Playo had an unconventional idea that was much needed in the country. The sport start-up is focused on being the one-stop destination to bring sports back in everyone’s lives. They are focused on empowering the local sports communities by allowing them to make new play pals, discover new venues, organize matches and share experiences. Their app is focused on bringing together recreational activities be it sports, fitness or fun. They want to bring back the childhood memories of playing sports back in everyone’s lives.

BalleBaazi

BalleBaazi is an online fantasy platform that is focused on providing an interactive user experience to its audience. The platform allows users to participate in fantasy sports leagues and is one of the prominent fantasy cricket platforms in India. Along with cricket, BalleBaazi has further expanded its reach to fantasy leagues of other sports too. In 2019, the start-up raised $4 million in Series A funding from Singapore and Delhi.

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