YouWeCan Ventures, the investment firm backed by Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, has acquired a minority stake of around 10% – 15% in a sports startup named SportyBeans, which runs multi-sports programmes for pre-school and early-school children.
The financial details of the deal has not been disclosed. Yuvraj’s association with the company would not be limited to just investment. He will also get involved in designing the course curriculum.
Commenting about Yuvraj’s association with the company, Karan Sareen, Director of the company, said,
He is involved in co-designing the course curriculum. It’s a research-backed sports and fitness curriculum across popular sports including soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, hockey, tennis, cricket, rugby, and golf.
Founded in 2009, SportyBeans opened its first centre in 2010 and today, it has a base of 15,000 children a year. It is now planning to leverage mobile technology to allow users to book online and for personal coaching and in-school sessions. It caters to the physical fitness needs of 1.5-8 year old children through its 35 centres across 17 cities.
It enables children to identify and develop interest in sports at an early age and aims to create a transformational impact on building the next generation of sportspersons.
The company is still looking to raise around $8 million to $10 million, and aspires to have a network of more than 200 centres in the next two years with revenues of about Rs 80 crore.
It is also looking to launch its operations globally and as part of the plan, the company has signed an international franchise in Mauritius and would soon launch its operations in Malaysia.
This is the ninth investment deal from YouWeCan Ventures, which was founded in April this year. The firm has earlier invested in JetSetGo, Cartisan, Vyomo, Moovo, Edukart, Healthians, among others.
