Chandrasekhar Venugopal (CV)’s Post

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VC @ Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India)

Tailwinds we've observed in Sports and Fitness 1. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 a. Growth in timed running events in India (doubled 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 2-3 𝘺𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 2020 - 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸?) b. Demand for sporting/fitness infrastructure in T2 and T3 increasing c. Wearables, fitness tracking growing at 30-35% CAGR (𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦) 2. 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻: Rise of the fit, independent Indian woman (covered here https://lnkd.in/gEUnGFyX) 3. "𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘂𝗿-𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆" 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 - 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘳 :) a. ‘Easy to play’ and ‘Easy to access’ categories seeing inflection (Baddy, Swimming, Running, Yoga etc) b. "Accessible and enjoyable" workouts: Rise of group sessions, trainers and Home Gyms 4. “𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆!”: Parents investing in their kids sporting/ fitness journey a. Coaches seeing increase in demand b. Indulgences - Sunday skating in Cubbon Park; Football tourneys in Goa (and Korea?) 5. “𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆”: Large winners in large TAMs and many more WIP a. Indian footwear market - Decathlon (INR 3.9K Cr); Puma (INR 2.9K Cr); Adidas (INR 2.5K Cr) (Covered here https://lnkd.in/gz2W39aP) b. Apparel – HRX ~INR 1K Cr; Multiple startups carving their niche in athleisure c. Facilities - >5K organized turfs in India growing at a 25% 5Y CAGR 6. "𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝘇 𝗸𝗵𝗮𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲" : Getting over India's love for 'Carb-on-Carb' (Aloo Paratha, Masala Dosa) a. Clean protein for India priced affordably b. Vitamins, Minerals and other OTC PS - As is obvious, US and China are not represented in the chart so that we can actually get a peek at the other countries :) Key takeaway is we are young and just getting started on economic growth. Unlocking Sports & fitness TAM is inevitable.

  • chart, bubble chart
Rajas Shah

IIMC; IITGN; CFA L2; ex - ZS.

2d

Sir, have a similar corroborating observation to the pickleball point - In tier 2/3 cities, cricket 'turfs' (pitch + some nets around a badminton court sized area) have significantly grown since pandemic. These are usually booked except for weekday afternoons, and their number is growing rapidly. (eg: In my hometown in Maharashtra, we had 2 such spots in early 2021, today its 30+ and they're all seeing good utilization). Pre-covid most people would seldom pay to reserve 1 hour slots to play cricket

Manu Mohan

Building predictive sports stack | Apnacricketteam.com

2d

Inevitable. Truly. Some indicators in the direction: - Female viewership in Cricket going up. Cricket as a sport finding its right format in T20. - Olympics broadcast viewership opening up more sports on TV And as a country still so early into this. But days of ‘Padhoge likhoge banoge nawaab, kheloge kudhoge banoge kharab’ are changing gone :)

Ayush Bhatnagar

Student at Plaksha University | Co-Founder Aizor Studio

2d

As India's fitness ecosystem grows, how do you see traditional dietary habits like "carb-on-carb" meals evolving alongside the adoption of clean protein and wellness products?

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Shanti Mohan

Founder @LetsVenture @trica || LPAC @Pioneer Fund

2d

So agree to this - Went on a trek this summer, and there were record number of people on the trail that was considered moderate to difficult grade. All ages, all cities - our takeaway was India gets Fitter! (and adventurous)

Anjan Goswami

Lifestyle & Wellness | Team Building | Work Life Balance | Mental & Physical Conditioning | Life Coaching | Trainer & Educator

2d

Bingo!! The demand in the corporate wellness market is also trending towards higher athleticism.

Agree with the conclusion and adding two more leading indicators to the list, which support the conclusion: 1. Increasing penetration of gyms across Metro to Tier-3 (mostly covered in 1.b above) 2. Growing MAUs (CAGR since FY17) of fitness apps (healthify.me - 30-40%, cure.fit - 40-50%, my fitness pal - 15-20%, fittr - 40-50%, etc.) and fitness equipment imports (40%+ import growth since FY17). This supports both TAM unlock and part premiumization.

Swaroop Basina

IIMA | Apnaklub | OLA | GTM business and product strategy

2d

Pickleball court in indiranagar.. Indians silicon valley doesn't disappoint to adopt to any recent fad..

Purvansh Patwari

VC Intern(Deep Tech & Defence Tech)- Samarthya| Ex-BDO|CA FINALIST

2d

Sports For Life is solving problem within this space.

Parminder Datt

Sports Marketer/Brand Marketer/Business Strategist - specialist in the Sportswear & Sports Marketing industry - IMG, Adidas, Reebok, Asics, Mizuno, Chelsea Football Club, Alcis, XLR8 Nutrition & Sanspareils Greenlands

2d

Very nicely put. Point 6 is very interesting. Sports nutraceuticals industry also growing be it whey protein or isotonic drinks. Even peanut butter is being marketed as a mass gainer by pharma companies.

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Brijesh Singh

Dubai Real Estate Expert | Luxury Property Consultant Dubai | Off-Plan Property Specialist | Prime Dubai Real Estate| UAE Property Investment Advisor

2d

Exciting times ahead for sports and fitness in India! From growing demand for fitness infrastructure to the rise of women and kids in fitness, the potential is huge. It's clear the market is just getting started!

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