Sachin, Sindhu call off proposed investment in CallHealth
What's the story?
Three of India’s most revered sports figures had been expected to come together to invest in a Hyderabad-based healthcare services aggregator, CallHealth Services Pvt. Ltd. Sachin Tendulkar, Pullela Gopichand and PV Sindhu are set to invest in the start-up to help it raise Rs 40 crore ($6.2 million), as reported by the Indian investment publication VC Circle.
While the cricket maestro was expected to pump in Rs 12 crore, PV Sindhu and her coach were thought to be investing Rs 4 crore each as per the documents obtained from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs dated June.
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While the former All England champion Gopichand is an existing investor in this start-up, this is the first known record of his pupil Sindhu investing anywhere.
Tendulkar has made big investments in the sports field ever since he hung up his bat. He co-owns the Kerala Blasters team in the Indian Super League (ISL) in association with PVP Ventures, apart from the Bengaluru Blasters franchise in the Premier Badminton League. He also invested in the PKL franchise Tamil Thalaivas.
The heart of the matter
Founded in 2013 by Sandhya Raju, who is the daughter of Ramco group chairman PR Venketrama Raja, CallHealth has been providing an array of healthcare services at patients’ doorsteps. It has its presence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana apart from Delhi.
Besides the three sporting greats, the four-old company is also expected to receiv Rs 10 crore from Bijman Projects Pvt. Ltd and Rs 8 crore from US and Hyderabad-based IT services company Tetra Soft India Pvt. Ltd.
Last year, it had bagged Rs 57.52 crore when Telugu filmstars Chiranjeevi Konidela, Nagarjuna Akkineni and Allu Arjun participated.
What’s next?
PV Sindhu and Gopichand’s attention have now shifted to the Korea Open Superseries that is under way this week in Seoul. She is leading the Indian challenge and will hope to build on her World Championships final run.
For Tendulkar, his focus will soon be on the ISL as his team, Kerala Blasters will be vying for their first title in the league that begins on November 17, 2017.
Author’s take
There could not be a better choice than healthcare to put funds in. All three of Tendulkar, Gopichand and Sindhu should be lauded for making efforts to invest in a sector that is highly neglected in India.
UPDATE: As per the latest information from the firm, however, the famous trio have all called off their proposed investment in the startup.
Also read: Revealed: PV Sindhu's World Championship final had 40 times less TV viewership than India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI