Centre Court Capital, a sports technology- and gaming-focused venture capital firm, has marked the first close of its maiden investment vehicle and aims to raise the entire targeted corpus by the end of this calendar year.
The fund, which is a category-II alternative investment fund (AIF), has a targeted corpus of Rs 350 crore and the fund has marked the first close at Rs 200 crore.
In terms of its limited partner (LP) portfolio, the fund has raised commitments from the family office of Sajjan Jindal, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) along with PremjiInvest, USK Capital, GMR Sports and SG Sports.
The fund, which aims to invest in tech-based sports startups as well as gaming startups is helmed by Mustafa Ghouse, the former chief executive officer of JSW Sports, along with Alok Samtaney who was a former investment director with TVS Capital and Sabre Partners.
“We have seen a rise in both public and private investment in sports which has more than quadrupled since 2020. As a result, we’re seeing an acceleration in the number of startups that are building from India for India and the world... the gaming sector is poised to grow at a 5-year CAGR of 21% ,” said Ghouse, founder and general partner, centre court capital.
“We see the potential of the space, and are focussed on backing founders who believe they are now ready to compete with the best in class, globally.”
It is also planning to launch an offshore feeder fund in GIFT City, to raise capital from international investors.
The fund aims to invest in 15 companies in the next three years and has already made two investments. The names of the startups were, however, not disclosed.
In terms of the average cheque size, the firm has earmarked Rs 8-24 crore, while reserving 40-50% of the fund for follow-on investments.
