Sports365, an online sports good and fitness equipments store floated by ace Indian Tennis player Mahesh Bhuphati, has announced the acquisition of Tennishub.in in an all-stock deal. The company is also planning to launch dedicate portals for particular sports in the coming months, reports ET.
Tennishub was founded by Vishnu Vardhan and Afroze Khan. As a part of the deal, the team of Tennishub will now join Sports365, which consists of around 18 employees.
Sports365 is backed by some prominent personalities such as tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi, cricketer Yuvraj Singh, squash player Deepika Pallikal, and model-actress Lara Dutta. The company is also partnering with foreign brands as their exclusive partners in India.
We are tying up with at least 15 brands, which are not present in India but they are big.
said Ashutosh Chaudhari, VP of the company.
As per company’s co-founder, the company is in talks to raise around $5 million to $8 million in a fresh funding round, which is expected to close in eight to ten weeks. Last year, it had raised $1.5 million from Zolon Ventures and Powerhouse Ventures.
He further stated that the money will be used enhance the marketplace technologically, create own private labels and hire more employees for the company. The investors for the new round are likely going to be VC firms and companies who are in the business of sports.
Sports365 recently launched a new portal catering to running enthusiasts dubbed as Runninghub.in. It is also planning to launch different segments for cycling and outdoor products in the next three months.
It claims to be selling 25,000 products per month with an average ticket size of Rs. 1,600 to 1,700. The company clocked a revenue of Rs. 14.5 crore in 2014-15 and targets to close 2015-16 with Rs. 40 crore.
The company claims to have around 250 institutional customers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. It is planning to clock Rs 100 crore in the next 12 months only, with an ambition of creating a Rs 1,000 crore company in five years time.
As for expansion plans, Sports365 would be adding new business on top of the existing ones and plans to geographically expand operations to six to seven cities going forward, including Delhi and Mumbai.
