Centre Court Capital on Tuesday raised Rs 410 crore for its maiden fund, surpassing its initial target and triggering a Rs 60 crore greenshoe option. The firm is looking to back companies in the intersection of sports and gaming in the Indian ecosystem.
The fund is anchored by JSW Cement’s Managing Director, Parth Jindal, and is backed by domestic institutional investors including SIDBI and SRI as well as family offices such as Premji Invest, SanRaj Group and GMR Sports.
It also saw participation from sports and media personalities such as Neeraj Chopra, Rishabh Pant, PV Sindhu, Jemimah Rodrigues, along with entrepreneurs including Binny Bansal, Mithun Sacheti, and Ankit Nagori.
The fund will look to write cheques in the range of Rs 8 crore to Rs 24 crore and is looking to invest in 15 to 18 companies as part of this fund. It has already invested in six companies including fan engagement platform for cricket Fancraze Technologies, sports infrastructure company Michezo Sports, aerial and broadcast technology startup Quidich Innovation Labs and gaming studio Airoclip, among others.
Centre Court Capital will also look to reserve about 30% to 40% of the fund to make follow-on investments in its portfolio companies. It expects to complete deploying capital in the next 12 to 18 months, Mustafa Ghouse, Founder and General Partner at Centre Court Capital told YourStory.
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The firm is eyeing sub-sectors within the fitness ecosystem like nutrition and recovery currently. However the broader focus is on tech-driven businesses that can scale up in sports business and in the gaming space.
Ghouse also noted that despite the firm’s focus in this sector, it does intend to invest in sports teams, leagues, or coaching academies because these companies fall under the service sector.
“It is not a venture-type investment in our perspective where you can deliver within a six to seven-year horizon. With teams and leagues, we don’t look at it because those are sectors that are looked at by private equity firms and need larger check sizes. You also need to stay invested in it for a much longer period of time.”
The fund’s exit horizon is a typical six to seven year window but the Ghouse noted that while its exit strategies vary depending on the business, the firm is seeing larger international funds that are now looking at India more actively, providing VCs in this sector rising exit opportunities. Additionally mergers and acquisitions play a huge role in the segment.
“For us and the type of exits one has already seen from Indian studios has been with acquisitions. That will continue to be the first kind of pathway for us, from an exit perspective. It's either M&As or larger international funds looking to enter India or our segment.”
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