Olympics Begin In
:
Days
:
Hours
:
Mins
 
Secs
Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Sports Market

Kabaddi Adda - First sports startup to raise funds in Shark Tank India

Kabaddi Adda Shark Tank Suhail Chandok
X

Kabaddi Adda co-founders Suhail Chandok (grey) and Arvind Sivdas with sharks Namita Thapar and Vineeta Singh

By

Abhijit Nair

Updated: 30 Jan 2022 7:00 AM GMT

Ever since its first episode was aired on 20th December last year, Shark Tank India has become one of the most talked about shows in the country. Not only is social media full of memes surrounding the show, but the sharks too have become a household name.

With 30 episodes of the show now aired, the audience have seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs already with multiple investments from all the sharks.

One among them is the country's only platform dedicated solely to Kabaddi called Kabaddi Adda. Co-founded by four entrepreneurs, they became the first sports-based startup to successfully raise funds and onboard two sharks from the show.


Founded in the year 2019, Kabaddi Adda is an online platform based out of Bangalore with a vision of making the ancient Indian sport popular once again in the country.

Represented by co-founders – Suhail Chandok, one of the foremost Kabaddi commentators in the country, and Arvind Sivdas – an IIT Madras graduate, Kabaddi Adda raised INR. 80 lakh for 6% equity at a valuation of INR. 13.33 crore.

What pushed Kabaddi Adda to make their way into a show like Shark Tank?

"Shark Tank India is about promoting Indian entrepreneurship and Naya Bharat in many ways. If you think about it Kabaddi is a true Indian sport – it really translates into the ethos of what India stands for. The power and impact through sport is incredible and Shark Tank as a platform is about impact generation. It really excited us as to what the Sharks could bring in terms of brand enhancement and hence it was a no brainer for us," said Chandok to The Bridge.

Arvind Sivdas too quipped the same sentiment.

"Kabaddi as a sport has always been Bharat ka Khel. What we have done is just tell the story of Kabaddi on national television. It requires the coverage and we are just a medium of telling the story."

Since the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014, the sport has gone from being virtually non-existent in mainstream to the second-most watched sport in the India.

"The first season of PKL was my first commentary gig and there were a lot of uncertainties on how it would pan out then. The fact that it is India's very own sport helped it grow. Everyone in India has played Kabaddi in some or the other form. It is an end to end exciting 40 minutes family affair and every 30 seconds there is a high and the rise in popularity is perhaps due to all these factors combined," Chandok states.


Next Story