Ex-DealShare Cofounder Makes A $1 Mn Sportstech Bet

SUMMARY

Incorporated in March 2024, the sports tech startup will look to back and assist sports academies across India

The startup has so far raised INR 9.4 Cr in two tranches from the likes of Blume Ventures, Roots Ventures, and Kunal Shah's QED Innovations Lab

Medda stepped down from his position as the CEO and cofounder of DealShare in January

Nine months after stepping down as the cofounder of ecommerce platform Dealshare, Sourjyendu Medda is said to have floated a new venture, Sports For Life (SFL).

Incorporated in March 2024, the sports tech startup aims to create a “lasting impact on India’s sporting culture” by assisting sports academies across India.

Medda (CEO) has founded SFL, along with former Cartesian employee Arman Tandon (COO) and Khushboo Talukdar. Operating under the aegis of parent entity Jambavan Academy Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru-based SFL counts Whiteboard Capital’s partner Anshu Prasher as its advisor.

“Sports For Life is dedicated to revitalising India’s sporting culture, aiming to transform the sports landscape at grassroots levels in major cities, with a ripple effect that extends across the nation. Our goal is to redefine how our nation perceives and engages with sports,” SFL’s website reads.

Meanwhile, the company’s filings with the MCA show that it has raised over INR 9.40 Cr ($1.1 Mn) in its seed funding round. It received the funding in two tranches of INR 4.65 Cr and INR 4.75 Cr in July.

Investors who backed the startup included venture capital (VC) firms Blume Ventures, Roots Ventures and Kunal Shah’s QED Innovations Lab. It also received backing from Tandon Group’s chairman Manohar Lal Tandon’s family office and others.

Inc42 has reached out to Medda for a comment. This story will be updated based on his response.

Entrackr was the first to report this development.

Notably, Medda stepped down from his position as the CEO and cofounder of DealShare in January. Besides Medda, DealShare has also seen the exit of two more cofounders in recent times.

In November 2023, it was reported that cofounders Vineet Rao and Sankar Bora parted ways with the company. While Medda has floated his new venture, there seems no clarity on Bora’s and Rao’s next course of action.

Cofounder exits have come at a time when DealShare was said to be clocking hefty losses. The ecommerce platform reported a net loss of INR 502.7 Cr in the fiscal ended March 2023, up 14% YoY. In the same fiscal, its operating revenue grew a mere 5% to 1,963.5 Cr from INR 1,863.5 Cr a year ago. The company is yet to report its financial numbers for FY24.