Private equity firm ASK Pravi Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd and sports-focused PE fund FW Sportz Investment Fund (FSIF) acquired Mumbai- based sports data firm Sportz Interactive (SI).
FSIF is run by FidelisWorld Asset Management and ASK Pravi is a joint venture of ASK group and Pravi Capital.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Chicago-based STATS Llc, which owned Sportz Interactive, sold off its entire stake to FSIF and ASK Pravi. In 2008, STATS had bought a majority stake in the firm founded by sports enthusiast Naveen Aranha in 2002.
Sportz Interactive works with clients, which include sports broadcasters, media conglomerates, sports teams, leagues and sports associations. The company’s offerings range from providing data and analytics, creating digital assets and building data visualisations to developing fantasy games, social media innovations and managing digital content.
Under its new ownership, Sportz Interactive, led by CEO Arvind Iyengar, will continue to work with STATS to support key clients.
Sportz Interactive is a media solutions partner for Facebook. Its clients also include Star Sports, Network 18, NDTV and Yahoo, according to Iyengar.
“As sports investors, we see expanding opportunities globally for strong data, analytics, and technology-enabled service providers to change the way audiences interact with sports, from consuming to actually experiencing sports content. SI fits this bill and we look forward to helping the company further enhance its position,†Amit R Krishnan, director of FSIF, said in a statement.
FidelisWorld Asset Management or FW Asset, promoted by former JP Morgan executive Anand Krishnan, had hired Sripat Pandey from New York-based investment bank Duff & Phelps as principal (private equity) to lead its investment efforts, two years ago.
“We are delighted to invest in Sportz Interactive. Led by a dynamic and young leadership team, Sportz Interactive has grown into one of the best technology service providers in the fast growing sports services segment,†said Jayanta Banerjee, managing partner, ASK Pravi.
Of late, sports startups have been eliciting investors’ interest. Earlier this year, sports discovery and booking platform goSporto raised $30,000 (Rs 20 lakh) in seed funding from Singapore-based angel investor Naveen Gupta.
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