- Founder: Arvind Sivdas and Suhail Chandhok
- Business: All-Kabaddi App
- Ask: ₹80 lakhs for 1% equity
- Valuation/Net worth: ₹80 Crores
- Result: ₹80 lakhs for 6% Equity
- Sharks: Namita Thapar and Vineeta Singh
- Episode: Season 1 Episode 30
Kabaddi Adda Shark Tank India Pitch:
Kabaddi Adda, a live Kabaddi news and auction platform, made its appearance on Shark Tank India Season 1 Episode 30. Founded by Arvind Sivdas and Suhail Chandhok, they sought an ₹80 lakh investment in exchange for a 1% equity share of their business. Kabaddi Adda caters to the popularity of Kabaddi in India by providing live scores, news, and auction services for Kabaddi matches, offering updates on players from every state. The platform allows users to watch Kabaddi matches regularly, given the sport’s widespread appeal in the country.
Kabaddi is a local sport of India with origins suggesting it is a 4,000-year-old sport. It is also India’s second most-watched sport after Cricket. Fifty crore people watch Kabaddi in India! They have three pillars in the app, with the first being their content and distribution platform. They have over 1.5 crore views of their content and more than 5 lakh engaged subscribers.
Their second pillar is the ‘Tournament in a Box,’ which focuses on local Kabaddi tournaments. Their third pillar is their own tournament, K7, which is owned and operated by Kabaddi Adda and had 83 games in its first season! Twenty of the players from that tournament have received contracts from Pro Kabaddi franchises. They also host ‘Mahela Mondays,’ where four games are played by women’s teams.
Kabaddi Adda Financials during Shark Tank India?
In FY19-20, which was the company’s first year, they made ₹24 lakh in revenue. They achieved ₹57 lakh in FY20-21, and their year-to-date numbers for FY 21-22 stand at 1.2 crore with a projection to close the year at 1.5 crores. They project their next year’s revenue to be between 10-15 crores due to signed sponsorships and contracts. Their gross margin is at 80%, out of which the company reinvests half back into the ecosystem. Their net after that comes to around 30%.
The company has projections to make ₹3-5 lakh in revenue per match, with the majority of that coming from media rights. They are also hoping to enter the fantasy game world. They recently closed a funding round with Shree Capitals at ₹80 crore pre-money valuation, where they raised ₹20 crore.
Kabaddi Adda Shark Tank Negotiations:
Anupam believes that this is not an easy space to make money in, and he also comments that entrepreneurs are not there to take money from a Shark but are there to promote their Kabaddi league. He goes out citing those reasons. Ashneer is interested in sports but not so interested in this business, so he goes out. Aman goes out, citing that he doesn’t really understand the space, and it’s too early for him.
Namita understood the market as she runs a basketball league along with her husband. She was interested in the company because it is promoting Indian sports, so she offers ₹80 lakh for 5% of the company. Vineeta joins Namita’s deal, but they change their offer to ₹80 lakh for 6%. The company counters with 1.2 crore for 5%, which the Sharks refuse, and they stick to their original offer. After some discussion, the company accepts the offer and closes the deal at ₹80 lakh for 6% of the company.
Who are Kabaddi Adda’s founders?
Arvind Sivdas and Suhail Chandhok founded Kabaddi Adda. Arvind is also Vineeta’s batchmate from IIT Madras, and she comments that he is the most sports-enthusiastic person she knows. They both took part in Inter-IIT sports tournaments during their time in college. Vineeta has also won gold for IIT Madras with Arvind’s wife as her partner in badminton doubles. Suhail has been involved in the Pro Kabaddi League since 2014. He is a presenter and commentator for the Pro Kabaddi League. He also had an IPL contract in 2009 but couldn’t go for it due to a knee injury.
How is Kabaddi Adda doing after Shark Tank India?
Our research into the company revealed that the Shark Tank deal with Namita and Vineeta closed after the show aired. Not only that, sports tech and media platform Sportzcraazy announced on March 27 that it has acquired a majority stake in the content platform Kabaddi Adda to expand its offerings. Namita shared their success story on her Instagram in April 2023, mentioning that the company is doing 12 times its sales post-Shark Tank, which would come to around 18 crores in annual revenue, and Kabaddi Adda is profitable.
As for their numbers, as of November 2023, they have over 500k YouTube subscribers and over 176k followers on Instagram. In addition to that, they have multiple videos with over a million views. SportzCraazy’s founder shared on a podcast that, in addition to all the content, they also have detailed data on 6,500 to 7,000 Kabaddi players and are the only platform available on all social channels and have their own website. They also have 90-100 academies listed on their platform from across India.
In January 2024, Namita Thapar shared that Kabaddi Adda had 68 players in the current pro-Kabaddi league. She added in the same post that the business at an Annual Run Rate of ₹16 Crores!
Source: Kabaddi Adda Instagram
Here are other companies from Season 1 Episode 30.
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