A curated network for sports founders, investors, and operators.
Built for the Indian sports ecosystem across leagues, media, wellness, gaming, fan engagement, and fitness.
• 1 Sector
• 12 Themes
12
Active Investors Angels and Family Offices
20
Athlete Investors
13
Companies Screened
2
Companies Raised Funds
₹35L
Closed Investments Facilitated
32
Operators & Advisors
4
Broadcasters on this Platform
Privacy Note - Your data stays yours. Period.
We don't share founder details with investors, or investor details with founders, without explicit approval from both sides. No bulk introductions. No spam. No surprise emails from people you never agreed to speak with. Every connection on this network is opt-in — both ways. You control who gets your contact information, and when a conversation starts. We built this rule because the existing ecosystem treats your inbox like a public billboard.
We refuse to do the same.
Access sports investments like never before.
The Indian Sports Investment Network gives everyone unprecedented access to invest in sports.
Investors will be able to invest with as little as ₹1 lakh.
Investment Themes
Sports Real Estate
Hospitality
Sports Teams and Clubs
Sports Leagues
Sports Ventures
Sports Tech
We take a flat deal fee worth 0.1% of amount raised or ₹40,000, whichever is lower, from companies. (Waived off for the first year of operations).
We do this only to support our workflows and support the Indian Sports Ecosystem like no one else does. All money we make is expensed out for various support functions and initiatives.
Who This Is For
Built for the Key Players in Sports Innovation
Whether you're building, investing, or advising — this network is designed to accelerate your work in Indian sports.
🚀
Founders
Raise capital, meet relevant investors, and access operators who can help you grow.
💰
Investors
Access curated sports startup dealflow and connect with founders raising now.
⚡
Operators & Advisors
Help shape the next generation of sports businesses through mentorship and introductions.
How it Works: Investors
From sign-up to signal, not noise
Verified access to curated sports dealflow that matches your thesis.
01
Apply
Submit your profile and investment interests.
02
Verification
We verify every investor before they see startup profiles. This protects founders from tyre-kickers.
03
Curated Dealflow
You see only startups that match your thesis. No irrelevant decks, no noise. Each brief includes a summary, sector, traction snapshot, and fundraising ask — enough to decide in two minutes.
04
Context-Rich Introductions
We don't just exchange email addresses. Both sides receive pre-shared context to make the first call substantive.
05
Ongoing Access
Get access to Demo Days showcasing 8–10 pre-approved startups basis investor consensus.
How it Works: Founders
From application to investor-ready
A hands-on process that prepares you before making a single introduction.
01
Apply
Submit your profile and company details.
02
Deep Review
Every application is reviewed manually. We assess problem clarity, traction, and defensibility. If the pitch materials need work, we don't reject — we help.
03
Pitch Readiness
We stress-test your financial model, sharpen your deck narrative, validate unit economics, and calibrate your valuation — so you're ready before you're in front of an investor.
04
Curated Matching
No mass blasts. We match you with investors based on their stated thesis. A kabaddi-tech seed founder meets kabaddi-focused seed investors. Nobody else.
05
Warm Introduction
Every introduction is double opt-in. The investor sees a one-paragraph brief — not your full deck, not your contact details. If they say yes, the intro happens with full context and a specific ask.
06
Operator & Advisor Support
Connect with domain-specific operators and advisors from our network — former franchise heads, broadcasting executives, key vendors — who can provide services at discounted values or open doors that capital alone cannot – all for a simple flat 1% equity share.
How it Works: Operats & Advisors
From expertise to equity
Advise the next generation of sports companies — and own a piece of what you help build.
01
Apply
Submit your profile: professional background and domain expertise, kind of startups you want to work with / advise, and your time commitment.
02
Matching
We match you where your experience is directly actionable. A production vendor meets a sports league. A broadcasting executive meets a media company negotiating content deals. Every match has to make sense for both sides.
03
Structured Engagement
Every engagement starts with a clear scope: Discounted Services / Advisory for a 1% non-dilutable stake vesting over 5 years.
Testimonies
Where founders and investors come together
Curated intro formats, real filtering, and opt-in connections.
Investors
Most platforms send me 40 decks a week and call it 'dealflow.' This is the first network where every introduction was relevant to my thesis. I look at sports infrastructure and fan-tech — and Mit made sure that's exactly what showed up.
What sold me was the curation. I told them I want to write ₹2L–₹1Cr cheques into seed-stage sports startups. I haven't received a single Series B deck or a fintech pitch. That level of filtering is rare.
I've been investing in sports for three years. Before this network, I was sourcing deals through WhatsApp forwards and LinkedIn cold messages. Now I have a structured pipeline with context on every founder before I take the call.
The Demo Day format is the best I've seen so far. Eight to ten founders, all pre-approved based on investor consensus, each trained to deliver a clear problem statement, show traction, and a specific ask. I made two investments directly from the last cohort.
The privacy piece matters more than people think. On other platforms, the moment I sign up, my inbox gets flooded. Here, nobody gets my details unless I say yes. That's how professional deal-making should work.
Most platforms send me 40 decks a week and call it 'dealflow.' This is the first network where every introduction was relevant to my thesis. I look at sports infrastructure and fan-tech — and Mit made sure that's exactly what showed up.
What sold me was the curation. I told them I want to write ₹2L–₹1Cr cheques into seed-stage sports startups. I haven't received a single Series B deck or a fintech pitch. That level of filtering is rare.
I've been investing in sports for three years. Before this network, I was sourcing deals through WhatsApp forwards and LinkedIn cold messages. Now I have a structured pipeline with context on every founder before I take the call.
The Demo Day format is the best I've seen so far. Eight to ten founders, all pre-approved based on investor consensus, each trained to deliver a clear problem statement, show traction, and a specific ask. I made two investments directly from the last cohort.
The privacy piece matters more than people think. On other platforms, the moment I sign up, my inbox gets flooded. Here, nobody gets my details unless I say yes. That's how professional deal-making should work.
Founders
Before joining, I'd sent over 200 cold emails to investors. Got 11 replies. Through ISIN, I had six qualified conversations in my first two weeks — with investors who actually understood why fan engagement in sports is a ₹500 Cr opportunity, not a 'nice-to-have.'
What surprised me was the support before the introduction even happened. Mit helped me tighten my financial model, validated my unit economics, and told me honestly that my valuation was too high for the stage I was at. I feel that that feedback alone saved me months of dead-end conversations.
Operators and Advisors
I spent 14 years in sports broadcasting — Star Sports, Sony, JioCinema. In just a couple of months, I ended up working deeply with two startups on their media rights strategy. I now hold equity in both, and I'm more energised about Indian sports than I've been in a decade.
As a former franchise COO, I know exactly where sports startups waste money in year one. I've been advising three founders through this network — on vendor contracts, league relationships, and hiring their first sales lead. It's the kind of operational help that no VC can provide, and the equity arrangement makes it worth my time.
I joined because I wanted to stay close to the sports ecosystem after retiring from professional hockey. What I didn't expect was how much founders actually needed someone who understands athlete relationships and federation politics. I've advised on four deals now, and two of those companies credit the federation introductions as the reason they got their first contracts.
Market Intelligence — Jan 2025 to Apr 2026
The Pulse
Rotate if using this on a mobile phone
Full deal data could not be loaded. Ensure sports-deals.json is in the same folder as this page when you deploy (or open the site over HTTP, not as a raw file). The table below shows 10 sample deals only.
Indian sports investing is alive — but it's extremely concentrated, and hungry for more capital.
Deal activity
When The Money Moved
Every sports deal plotted across 15 months. Hover to explore.
SeedSeries AAngelVenture DebtSeries E
Deal log
Every Sports Deal in India, Jan 2025 - Apr 2026
#
Company
Sub Theme
Date
Stage
Amount
Lead Investor
Where the capital goes
Deal Count and Capital by Category
Who's writing the cheques
Most Active Sports Investors in India
Ranked by deal count.
#
Investor
Deals
Deal names
Events
Events That Bring Sports Investors, Founders, and Operators Together
1
Demo Days Conducted
4
Roundtables Conducted
10
Curated Startups
30
Participating Investors
6
Panellists
Upcoming Events
Friday, May 15, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Demo Day: Sports Founder-Investor Demo Day
A curated showcase of 8 Indian sports startups actively raising capital. Each founder gets a 7-minute pitch followed by 3-minute live Q&A with investors. Ends with a private networking room where investors can request 1:1 introductions with founders they're interested in.
👥 8 Founders • 10 Investors
Friday, October 16, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Demo Day: Sports Founder-Investor Demo Day
A curated showcase of 8 Indian sports startups actively raising capital. Each founder gets a 7-minute pitch followed by 3-minute live Q&A with investors. Ends with a private networking room where investors can request 1:1 introductions with founders they're interested in.
👥 8 Founders • 10 Investors
Friday, June 19, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: The Business of Non-Cricket Sports in India
A closed-door discussion with investors exploring where capital should flow beyond cricket. The conversation covers kabaddi's monetisation gap, the hockey franchise revival, badminton's Olympic pipeline, and why esports is the fastest-growing category among Gen-Z. Panellists include one league executive, one active sports investor, and one founder building in a non-cricket category.
👥 15 Investors • 3 Panellists
Friday, July 10, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: Investing in Women's Sports
An invite-only discussion exploring the explosive growth and investment opportunity in women's sports in India. The WPL's rise, growing brand interest in women athletes, the sponsorship gap between men's and women's leagues, and where the early capital is flowing. Panellists include one women's sports league executive and one investor actively backing women's sports ventures.
👥 15 Investors • 2 Panellists
Friday, August 28, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: Before the Big Money Arrives: Operating a Sports League
A session led by veterans who've built and scaled sports businesses on tight budgets. The masterclass covers how to use the advisory-for-equity (ESOPs) model to access vendors and otherwise expensive services, cost-effective approaches to delivering high-quality sports tournaments and events, and how to maintain decent margins while the broader Indian sports capital story is still maturing. This is not theory — each speaker walks through real numbers, real trade-offs, and real frameworks they've used to keep companies alive and growing during capital-scarce periods.
A live showcase where one recently funded startup from each of the 15 sub-themes in Indian sports tech presents its business thesis. From Athleisure & Sportswear, Fantasy Sports to Sports Leagues — each founder gets 8 minutes to explain the category opportunity, what they're building, why now, and where they see the market heading. The session doubles as a live market map: by the end, every attendee has a clear picture of the entire Indian sports investment landscape through the lens of the founders actually building in it.
👥 Open to All Members
Past Events
Friday, February 20, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: Why Indian VCs Don't Write Sports Cheques — And What Would Change Their Mind
Less than 1% of Indian VC capital goes into sports. This isn't because the market is small — it's because most fund managers don't have a sports thesis. This roundtable puts three generalist VCs who have never invested in sports in a room with the data: the ₹18,864 Cr economy, the 655 million fan base, the 15 investable sub-themes. The conversation is deliberately uncomfortable — what would it actually take for a generalist fund to allocate to sports? What return profiles do they need to see? What comparable exits would give them conviction? The goal isn't to pitch — it's to listen to the objections and map a path through them.
👥 8 Investors & Operators • 3 Panellists
Past event
Friday, March 6, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: The Missing Middle — Why Series A Capital Doesn't Exist in Indian Sports
68% of Indian sports deals are seed rounds. Only 16% reach Series A. The funnel breaks after the first cheque. This session brings together one seed-stage sports investor and one growth-stage fund manager to diagnose why. Is it a metrics problem — sports startups don't hit the revenue thresholds that Series A funds require? Is it a category bias — investment committees don't understand sports unit economics? Or is it a structural gap — there simply aren't enough dedicated sports funds writing $2M–$5M cheques? The roundtable maps the specific blockers and what founders and the ecosystem need to do to fix them.
👥 12 Investors & Operators • 2 Panellists
Past event
Friday, March 20, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: What Indian Sports Can Learn From US, European, and Middle Eastern Sports Capital
The US distributes capital across 5+ major leagues. Saudi Arabia's PIF is deploying billions into sports infrastructure. European football has a mature VC ecosystem around it. India has none of this — yet. This session brings together one investor with cross-border sports portfolio experience, and one analyst tracking global sports capital flows. The conversation covers what worked abroad and what's transferable to India, whether international sports funds would deploy in Indian sports if the deal pipeline existed, and what structural conditions — league stability, media rights maturity, exit precedents — need to be in place before institutional capital arrives.
👥 13 Investors & Operators • 2 Panellists
Past event
Friday, April 3, 20265:00 PM IST
VirtualInvite Only
Roundtable: Exit Pathways in Indian Sports — Where Does the Money Come Back?
The biggest unspoken blocker to sports capital in India is the exit question. Investors can't underwrite a cheque if they can't see how they get it back. This roundtable confronts the question directly. Panellists include one investor who has seen a partial or full exit in an Indian sports company and one investment banker who works on sports M&A. The conversation maps every realistic exit route: acquisition by leagues or franchises, strategic acquisition by media companies (the Dream Sports–Cricbuzz model), roll-up plays within categories, IPO precedents from adjacent sectors, and secondary sales. The goal is to build a shared mental model of how Indian sports returns will actually materialise — so that investors stop treating the category as a black box.
👥 26 Investors & Operators • 2 Panellists
Past event
Why This Network Exists
India has 655 million sports fans. But only one sport gets the capital.
The Indian sports economy generates ₹18,864 Crore annually. Yet 88.56% of that flows to a single sport.
We're here to change the equation — by connecting investors, founders, and operators across every sport that India plays, watches, and loves.
88.56%
of Indian sports revenue flows to cricket
Extreme Concentration
88.56%
₹16,704 Cr
Cricket
₹18,864 CrTotal sports economy
11.44%
₹2,160 Cr
All other sports
What this breaks
When most capital flows to one sport, everything else gets starved: leagues, teams, infrastructure, grassroots, athlete platforms, and sport-tech outside cricket.
The Indian Sports Investment Network is designed to build an education and investment pipeline for non-cricket sports deals — by connecting investors, founders and operators and help them better understand the non-cricket sport levers.
Revenue by sport
₹ Cr and share of ₹18,864 Cr total
Cricket
88.56%
₹16,704 Cr
Football
3.20%
₹604 Cr
Kabaddi
2.80%
₹528 Cr
Athletics
1.80%
₹340 Cr
Badminton
1.11%
₹210 Cr
Hockey
0.95%
₹180 Cr
Others
2.08%
₹398 Cr
Others includes Tennis, E-Sports, Chess, and remaining sports.
Non-cricket bars scaled to ₹604 Cr max for readability.
Source: WPP Media (GroupM ESP), 2026
Fans by sport
Millions. 655M total unique fans in India.
Cricket
75.1%
492M
Kabaddi
18.2%
119M
Football
13.0%
85M
Hockey
10.5%
69M
Badminton
8.7%
57M
Volleyball
6.1%
40M
Kho-kho
4.0%
26M
Non-cricket bars scaled to 163M max for readability.
Source: Think Sports — Google & Deloitte, 2025
US
Top 5 leagues' revenues
$57.1BBig 5 total
NFL38.9% · $22.2B
MLB22.3% · $12.75B
NBA21.5% · $12.25B
NHL13.5% · $7.7B
MLS3.9% · $2.2B
Source: Sportico (2025).
Multiple sports have mature leagues, repeatable deal patterns, and a deeper investor base.
India
Top five leagues' revenues
₹12,900 CrTop 5 combined
IPL89.15% · ~₹11,500 Cr
Others10.85% · ~₹1,400 Cr
No league in the US occupies more than about 40% of combined Big 5 revenue — versus roughly 89% that IPL occupies among India's top five leagues. Hence, upside is asymmetric across non-cricket ecosystems.
Extreme concentration. One solution. CAPITAL.
Apply
Join the Network
Whether you're building or investing — we'd love to have you.
