The fund is anchored by Parth Jindal, who leads JSW Group’s cement and paint business, and is backed by domestic institutional investors, including SIDBI and the government’s Self-Reliant India (SRI) fund as well as family offices such as Premji Invest, SanRaj Group and GMR Sports.
The fund has already invested in six companies and aims to scale its portfolio over the next two years. (Source: AI Image)
Sports and gaming-focused venture capital fund Centre Court Capital has closed its maiden fund at Rs 410 crore, exceeding its original target of Rs 350 crore announced in early 2024. The fund had raised Rs 200 crore at its initial close. The fund is anchored by Parth Jindal, who leads JSW Group’s cement and paint business, and is backed by domestic institutional investors, including SIDBI and the government’s Self-Reliant India (SRI) fund as well as family offices such as Premji Invest, SanRaj Group and GMR Sports.
The fund is also supported by sports and media personalities, including Neeraj Chopra, Rishabh Pant, PV Sindhu, Jemimah Rodrigues, along with Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti, and Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori.
With a 10-year tenure, the fund’s deployment period is planned over the first four years where it will look to build out a portfolio of 15 to 18 investments, Mustafa Ghouse, General Partner at Centre Court Capital told FE BFSI.
The fund will continue backing companies across sports, fitness, wellness and social gaming with initial ticket sizes ranging from Rs 8 crore to Rs 24 crore and has reserved significant capital for follow-on rounds. Centre Court Capital said it intends to lead or co-lead most of its investments.
The fund sees analytics and athlete development, wellness platforms and interactive gaming products benefitting from rising digital adoption and entering a scale-ready phase with deep commercial potential.
Further, digital gaming for Centre Court Capital remains a multi-billion dollar opportunity with strong year-on-year growth driven by deeper mobile usage and improved monetisation. Within this, it sees two opportunity streams emerging -- the continued expansion of the domestic market and the rapid rise of Indian founders building products for global audiences.
“The fund invests in high-growth companies across sports, gaming, fitness, wellness and sports tech. It backs both new ventures and established businesses that demonstrate scalability, technology leverage or strong IP,” said Ghouse.
It focuses on Seed to Series A as its core sweet spot while exploring follow-on rounds “where there is strong conviction and clear line of sight on scale.”
The fund has already invested in six companies and aims to scale its portfolio over the next two years.
The Indian gaming industry has seen rapid expansion over last decade on the back of widespread smartphone adoption, rising internet speeds, and a large, youthful population, fueling growth in mobile gaming, e-sports, and related entertainment.
The growth outlook attracts increasing investor interest, including foreign venture capital funds. Parallelly, India’s sports-technology sector covering fan engagement tools, data analytics, performance tracking, and more is gaining traction as traditional sports increasingly leverage tech for infrastructure, analytics, and monetization.
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