Indian Cricketers Investments: Apart from having an outstanding cricket profile, India’s top cricketers shows interest in building a strong portfolio in business Investments. Many cricketers including legendary Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar too made investments in startups and companies.
India’s Top Cricketers Investments
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has shown his preference for start-ups and invested in two companies. Kohli has invested in an insurance tech start-up based in Bengaluru. This start-up is Digit Insurance. Kohli also co-owns the fashion brand Wrogn launched in November 2014 along with Universal Sportsbiz (USPL).
A year later, the sportsman invested in a chain of gyms and fitness centers called Chisel in association with Franchise India with a 30% stake in the fitness startup. Started in 2015, the startup aimed at establishing more than 75 centers.
M.S. Dhoni
The former Indian Captain MS Dhoni has recently started farming at his farmhouse and the vegetables and fruits are grown in there will be exported to Dubai. He has also invested in a Bengaluru-based start-up Khatabook. He is also a brand ambassador of this company.
In 2019, MSD invested in online used car marketplace Cars24 as a Series D investor. The funding came in as a result of a strategic partnership between the company and Dhoni. The Indian cricket player came on board as the brand ambassador for Cars24 and owns an equity stake in the company.
Ajinkya Rahane
The Vice-Captain of the Indian Cricket Test Team has invested in a Pune-based agritech start-up Merakisan. He had earlier announced his investment in the start-up.
Gautam Gambhir
The cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir has also invested in start-ups this year. The cricketer invested in a health start-up called FYYHealth. The details of his investments in this company are still unknown.
Kapil Dev
The former Team India captain Kapil Dev has invested in many start-ups. As an angel investor, Kapil Dev has invested in online grocery startup PeopleEasy.com. In 2015, the former Indian cricketer turned to a venture investor after picking up a stake in Mumbai-based Samco Ventures.
In 2018, Dev entered into a partnership with B2B marketplace Pumpkart for brand endorsements. Last year, Delhi-based online market network WizCounsel raised INR 1 Cr in an angel round led by the cricketer among others.
Kapil Dev has also invested in VAOO, a Mumbai-based cab aggregator which offers free rides to passengers in return for viewing advertisements. The former ace cricketer has invested in 2020 too. He has invested in Harmonizer India. The details of his investments in the company are not known.
Sourav Ganguly
The former captain has invested in edtech start-up Class plus. However, there is no information about the amount of investments in this start-up. Ganguly is also a brand ambassador of this company.
Sachin Tendulkar
In 2016, Sachin invested in the Bengaluru-based Internet of Things (IoT) company Smartron India and came on board as the brand ambassador of the company.
After celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan and Virat Kohli entered the fashion business, in 2016, Sachin too launched a premium menswear brand on Myntra. The Little Master has also backed the sports entertainment company Smaaash.
