Centre Court Capital, a venture capital firm backed by Sajjan Jindal and founded by former JSW Sports CEO Mustafa Ghouse, plans to raise about Rs 350 crore for its maiden fund. The fund will invest in sports technology and gaming, such as e-sports, gaming studios and developers.
The fund, having secured commitments of Rs 200 crore from investors and athletes, plans to launch an offshore feeder fund in GIFT City to raise capital from global investors. It would focus on early-stage opportunities with a ticket size of Rs 8-24 crore, while reserving 40-50% of the fund for follow-on investments, it said in a statement.
The VC fund, founded by Ghouse and Alok Samtaney, a former investment director with TVS Capital and Sabre Partners, has the Sajjan Jindal Family Trust as anchor investor. Further, Small Industries Development Bank of India, PremjiInvest, USK Capital, GMR Sports and SG Sports are other investors.
“We have seen a tremendous 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. Adding to that, with 396 million gamers, we’re the second largest population of gamers in the world and the gaming sector is poised to grow at a five-year CAGR of 21%,” Ghouse said.
“Over the last decade, we have backed, invested and developed sport in India in a big way, and our commitment stems from our belief in the potential of sports in India. We’ve also been tracking the growth of the eSports and gaming sectors and we’re excited to see the champions from India emerge,” Parth Jindal, MD of JSW Cement, JSW Paints and Founder of JSW Sports, said.
