From Dhoni To Tendulkar, 9 Indian Cricketers Who Funded Startups In 2022

When do you know that you are on the path that leads to unquestionable success? The answer to this is simple; the day you start getting support in your quest to rise to the top. The same is true for India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, which has not only attracted investments from Angels, VCs and corporate investors, but also fascinated a breed of unconventional investors – Indian cricketers.

At a time when seasoned cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are managing a sizable startup portfolio, younger cricketers, too, jumped on the startup bandwagon this year, giving much-needed impetus to the startup space in India. 

Download Annual Funding Report 2022

Although the Indian startup ecosystem is currently marred by negative investor sentiments due to various reasons, a total of 12 Indian startups have garnered funding support from as many as 9 cricketers so far in 2022. While many of these startups are in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space, the remaining operate in areas such as edtech, fintech, insurtech and drone tech.

Interestingly, even though startup enthusiast and former Indian international cricketer Yuvraj Singh refrained from investing in Indian startups this year, he continues to hold a portfolio of 12 startups, the highest among his peers. His startup portfolio comprises Wellversed, EazyDiner, Edukart, Chqbook, Healthians, Vyomo, SportyBeans, Moovo, Black White Orange, JetSetGo, HoloSuit, and AutoBrix-acquired Cartisan.

Now, let’s meet the team of Indian cricketers that is helping startups stay afloat in a world of countless uncertainties.

Here Is A List Of Cricketers Who Invested In Indian Startups In 2022

Anil Kumble 

Veteran cricketer Anil Kumble has made an undisclosed amount of investment in health insurance startup Onsurity this year. Besides, he has also been onboarded as a strategic advisor by the startup.

Set up in 2020 by Yogesh Agarwal and Kulin Shah, Onsurity is a subscription-based platform that provides employee health solutions such as mental wellness, online medicine delivery, and health and accidental insurance, among others.

The startup has raised a total of $16 Mn to date. Its cap table includes Nexus Venture Partners, Quona Capital, Whiteboard Capital, Harsh Shah, Jitendra Gupta, Sunil Thomas, and Gaurav Munjal, among others.

Before backing the homegrown startups, Kumble founded two startups – TENVIC Sports and Spektacom.

Incorporated in 2010, TENVIC Sports offers sports training in schools and communities, leadership development programmes, and insights into the sports industry.

Spektacom, which was founded in 2018, aims to develop the sports industry by increasing the engagement of fans, broadcasters, coaches and sports professionals via smart products and technologies.

KL Rahul

Indian cricket team’s vice-president KL Rahul has recently stepped into the startup ecosystem. So far this year, the cricketer has put money in two startups – XYXX and MetaMan.

Set up in 2016 by Yogesh Kabra, XYXX is a men’s apparel startup, which sells innerwear, loungewear and athleisure on its website and 14 other online marketplaces.

To date, the startup has raised a total of $35 Mn from a slew of investors, including Sauce.vc, Trifecta Capital, Synergy Capital Partners, and Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund, among others.

Meanwhile, MetaMan, incorporated in 2022, sells men-focused brass, gold and silver jewellery. So far, the startup has raised $1 Mn seed funding from several unconventional investors such as Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty, Nikhil Kamath, Prashanth Prakash, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, and cricketer Robin Uthappa, among others.

Mayank Agarwal

Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal has made his investment debut this year after he pumped money into D2C brand Fast&Up’s parent company Fullife Healthcare.

Founded in 2015 by Vijayaraghavan Venugopal and Varun Khanna, Fullife Healthcare currently manages two healthcare brands – Fast&Up and Chicnutrix. According to the company, its brands have a wide presence in domestic and international markets, including the UK, US and Europe.

The company has so far raised $34.5 Mn funding from investors like Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA), actors Shilpa Shetty and Varun Dhawan, Sixth Sense, and Amansa Capital, among others.

MS Dhoni

After announcing his retirement from all formats of international cricket on 15 August, 2020, MS Dhoni can now be seen expanding his startup portfolio. In 2022, the former captain of the Indian national cricket team pumped money into two startups – Shaka Harry and Garuda Aerospace.

Founded by Anand Nagarajan, Sandeep Devgan, Hemalatha Srinivasan, Ruth Renita and Anoop Haridasan, Shaka Harry is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand of Liberate Foods. It primarily sells plant-based meat and snacking food products such as stuffed chicken paratha, mutton keema, chicken burger patties, and chicken fries, among others.

In July this year, the startup’s parent company, Liberate Foods, secured $2 Mn seed funding. Its cap table comprises Better Bite Ventures, Blue Horizon, Panthera Peak, Dexler Holdings, and Chef Manu Chandra, among others.

Incorporated in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Garuda Aerospace is a drone-as-a-service startup. It designs, builds and customises drones for deliveries, disaster management, and agricultural applications, among others. The startup has secured about $5 Mn funding to date.

Between 2018 and 2021, Dhoni pumped money into five startups – HomeLane, 7InkBrews, Khatabook, Cars24 and Run Adam. Today, he sits on a portfolio of seven startups.  

Robin Uthappa

Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa donned an investor’s hat in 2022 after he associated with men-focussed jewellery brand MetaMan, a D2C brand that sells gold, silver and brass jewellery online. The startup’s investors include cricketer KL Rahul, Bollywood celebrity Suniel Shetty, Nikhil Kamath, and Prashanth Prakash, among others.

Uthappa also has his investments into two startups – iTiffin and HealthEminds.

Founded in 2012 by Ankita Puri and Sunita Maheshwari, HealthEminds is a health and wellness startup. It connects customers with counsellors, psychologists and mental health coaches online.

iTiffin, set up in 2013 by Tapan Das and Ryan Fernando, offers customised low-calorie meals for people of all age groups. In 2015, it received about INR 1.5 cr funding from Uthappa.

Sachin Tendulkar

In the last few years, living legend Sachin Tendulkar has built a wide portfolio of startups. In 2022, he made an equity investment in cricket-focused non-fungible tokens (NFT) platform Rario. The NFT platform, founded in 2021 by Ankit Wadhwa and Sunny Bhanot, allows cricket fans to buy and trade cricket NFTs. 

In April, the startup bagged $120 Mn in a funding round led by Dream Capital. The round saw participation from Alpha Wave Global, Animoca Brands, Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital.

Between 2016 and 2021, Tendulkar backed five startups – Smaaash Entertainment, JetSyntheses, Spinny, Unacademy, and Smartron. 

Shikhar Dhawan

Left-handed opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan stepped into India’s startup ecosystem as an investor in September this year. He is reportedly backing online stockbroking platform Upstox.

Founded in 2012 by Shrini Viswanath, Raghu Kumar and Ravi Kumar, Upstox helps individuals make investments in bourses and mutual funds. The platform also offers advisory services related to capital markets.

Last year, the wealth management platform entered the coveted unicorn club after securing $25 Mn funding at a valuation of $3 Bn. Its cap table includes Tiger Global, Kalaari Capital, and GVK Davix, among others.

Just last week Dhawan had also announced the launch of his $75 Mn fund to back sportstech startups. With this, he also became the first Asian sportsperson to have launched a venture capital fund.

Smriti Mandhana

Named the Best Women’s International Cricketer by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2018, Smriti Mandhana started her startup investment journey in July with Neem Ayu.

Neem Ayu is a D2C startup, which sells varied ayurvedic products via its website and other ecommerce marketplaces. 

Set up in 2021 by Aditi Hingu, Dr Neena Sharma and Vipul Gupta, the brand claims to manufacture cruelty-free, natural and made-in-India products.

Virat Kohli 

Over the years, India’s star batter Virat Kohli has shown immense faith in India’s startup ecosystem, and 2022 was just an extension of that. During the year, he funded two D2C startups – Rage Coffee and Blue Tribe.

Set up in 2018 by Bharat Sethi, Rage Coffee sells coffee-based products through multiple channels across India, including ecommerce marketplaces and quick commerce platforms. The startup has a network of 150 offline distributors. 

During Inc42’s D2C Summit in September, Sethi said, “95% of Rage Coffee’s market is offline. If we don’t track offline, there’s no business. D2C is just a way to build the brand and to understand the customer faster than anyone else.”

Set up in 2017, Blue Tribe is a plant-based meat brand. It sells varied kinds of plant-based meat products such as chicken nuggets, keema, sausages, and momos, among others.

According to Tofler, the startup posted a consolidated loss of INR 1.4 Cr in FY21 versus a revenue of INR 15 Lakh. 

Apart from the aforementioned startups, Kohli’s startup portfolio comprises IPO-bound startup Digit Insurance, Universal Sportsbiz, MPL and Sport Convo.

Amid the funding winter of 2022, the Indian startup ecosystem has seen an unconventional race of investors, Indian cricketers, reiterating its faith on the potential it holds, especially when other investors have returned to their cocoon. As of now, experts see this race of investors to remain active in 2023 and beyond.

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Update|23rd December, 4.45 PM

Mithali Raj’s info has been removed from the story. Masai School clarified that the Indian cricketer is its brand ambassador. 

Download Annual Funding Report 2022