Spolto aims to improve sports accessibility with The Coach Crew acquisition
Spolto, a sports startup in India looking to enable grassroots sports participation, has entered into an agreement to acquire The Coach Crew, a sports aggregation platform founded in 2015 by Divesh Nathani. The Swedish-Indian sports-tech startup with bases in Pune, India, and Gothenburg, Sweden is now looking to make it easier for Indians to connect with verified sports coaches and academies, and in doing so, increase sports participation and awareness in India.
Spolto was also in the news recently for raising ₹5.5 crore in pre-seed funding to aid their vision of making sports accessible to the masses.
Spolto’s TCC acquisition gives them access to India's largest metropolitan market
According to Spolto founder Safa Soltani, with the acquisition of The Coach Crew (TCC) and the appointment of Divesh Nathani as a partner and Head of Partner Success, Spolto is now ready to improve the ease of access to sports in the country.
Speaking about Divesh and the acquisition, the Swedish entrepreneur said:
“Bringing Divesh on through the TCC acquisition was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. Not only does he have impeccable industry expertise and a high business acumen, he brings with him a vast network of connections in the sports industry, coupled with the experience of building and growing technologies in the sports ecosystem.“
Launching a sports-tech startup in Mumbai from scratch, Divesh built a profitable business model in the sports industry with The Coach Crew, which he co-founded in 2015. Divesh was later joined by Karan Ravishankar, who now runs an Economic Times podcast titled The Business of Sports. TCC now has over 1,000 partners in Mumbai across 15 sports and counting.
Spolto’s acquisition of TCC gives the Swedish-Indian startup access to the largest metropolitan market in India, allowing them to penetrate the largely untapped sports market in the city and leverage deep-rooted connections in the industry.
Speaking about the future, Divesh Nathani said:
“I’ve never been so excited about the future of sports in India. In Spolto, I saw a team with all the right tools to truly impact sports in the country, which has been a passion of mine for over 15 years. By being part of Spolto, we can combine the tech and digital marketing industries now to help ensure India is a force to be reckoned with over the next 10 years.”
The Mumbai-based company has quickly gained a reputation for successfully connecting parts of the sports ecosystem. In doing so, it has attracted a loyal following of almost 10,000 customers who have engaged in sports through TCC, including parents, athletes, coaches, academies, and corporate entities.