Parth Jindal-backed Centre Court Capital debuts Rs 350-crore sports tech and gaming fund

Centre Court Capital said it has already secured Rs 200 crore in commitments from marquee domestic investors.

After leaving a mark in shaping India's sporting ecosystem over the last decade, Parth Jindal, the scion of the $23 billion JSW Group, now wants to tap into the country's burgeoning sports tech and gaming industry.

He is anchoring a sports tech and gaming venture capital fund called Centre Court Capital, founded by former JSW Sports chief executive Mustafa Ghouse, along with former TVS Capital Funds investment director Alok Samtaney.

On April 4, Centre Court Capital announced the launch of its maiden Rs 350 crore fund, of which it has already secured Rs 200 crore in commitments from marquee domestic investors.

This 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.

"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. We’ve also been tracking the growth of the eSports and gaming sectors and we’re excited to see the champions from India emerge," said Jindal, who founded JSW Sports. He also serves as managing director of JSW Cement and JSW Paints.

Where will the fund invest?

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 percent 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.

Read: BGMI maker Krafton to invest $150 million on Indian gaming and entertainment startups

"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.

Read: Lumikai launches $50 million fund to back early-stage gaming startups

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.

Rising investor appetite

This fund comes amidst rising investor appetite for the fast-growing gaming, digital content, and the broader sports tech industry as the country shows signs of increasing maturity in terms of user behaviour and their spending habits.

In August 2023, South Korean gaming giant Krafton pledged to invest $150 million in Indian gaming and interactive entertainment startups over the next two to three years, bringing the company's total investment corpus in the country to about $290 million.

Also Read: Indian gaming studios see big action; take bolder, ambitious bets

Japanese mobile entertainment company Mixi also launched a $50 million corporate venture capital fund dedicated to the Indian market in the same month.

Lumikai, a gaming and interactive media-focused venture fund, launched its second fund in June 2023 with an aim to raise $50 million to back early-stage gaming and interactive media startups in the country. Meanwhile, skill-based gaming company Games24x7 had announced a Rs 400 crore corporate venture fund in November 2022 with plans to back gaming, sports tech, and esports startups.

Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy sport major Dream11, has also made several bets in the country's sports tech sector in recent years including sports content and commerce platform FanCode, sports venue booking platform Khelomore, and health and online fitness marketplace Fittr.

The Indian gaming industry clocked $3.1 billion in revenue in FY23, registering a 19 percent growth from $2.6 billion in FY22, according to a recent report by Lumikai. The sector is projected to hit the $7.5 billion revenue mark by FY28, it said.