Sachin Tendulkar Joins Used Car Retailing Startup Spinny As Investor And Brand Ambassador

Former Indian cricketer and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar has joined used car retailing startup Spinny as a strategic investor and brand ambassador. Tendulakar announced this collaboration yesterday on the startup’s account on Twitter. The cricket legend is known for his keen interest in cars. 

Tendulkar, often referred to as the “Master Blaster” is a former cricket player who served as the  captain of the Indian team and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters ever to have played the game.

He is the all-time highest run scorer in international cricket and the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries. He is also the recipient of many awards including the Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan. The cricketing legend also served as a Rajya Sabha MP between 2012 and 2018. 

Earlier this month, Inc42 had broken the story of the Gurugram-based startup becoming a unicorn after raising $283 Mn in a Series E funding round led by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, Tiger Global and Avenir Growth at a $1.8 Bn valuation. Feroz Dewan, Arena Holdings and Think Investments also participated in that round. 

Founded by Niraj Singh, Mohit Gupta and Ramanshu Mahaur in 2015, Spinny is a used car retailing platform that operates 15 car hubs across eight cities including Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

The startup competes with the likes of listed startups including CarsTrade, IPO-bound Droom, Cars24, Cardekho, OLX, Quikr and newly formed OlaCars. According to a report by Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd, the Indian used-car market is estimated to reach sales of between 6.7 Mn to 7.2 Mn units per year by 2022

“Happy to join the Spinny team. Niraj and his team have worked hard to create a platform that aspires to stand for trust, transparency and integrity,” tweeted Tendulkar.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the Indian used car market was valued at $27 Bn in 2020 and is expected to reach $50 bn by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 15% during the forecast period.

Spinny follows the lead of other startups that have benefited from a celebrity endorsement including homegrown short-video platform Chingari, which has actor Salman Khan as a brand ambassador for their NFT marketplace. Khan is also an investor in Chingari.