The Indian Cricket Team is far more than just on the field. Several cricketers are prominent in the business sector as well. Top cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, M.S Dhoni, and Virat Kohli have funded dozens of startups. Among these Indian cricketers, we'd talk about Virat Kohli and his funded startups here in this StartupTalky article.
Besides slaying on the field, Virat Kohli is well-established in the business sector also. Virat Kohli is currently hailed as India's most valuable celebrity, with a brand value of $184 mn in 2021. Kohli's value has reportedly decreased from $238 mn in 2020, according to Forbes reports. He is counted among the investors of several startups, apart from owning many brands, such as WROGN. Furthermore, Kohli has been recently seen to be engaging with several new startups as well, some of which, he and his wife, Anushka Sharma have funded together. These startups are the future of our country and Indian cricketers are well known for this fact!
Virat Kohli has invested in many startups related to different sectors like health, insurance, and tour and travel. The plant-based meat startup, Blue Tribe is the latest brand that Virat Kohli invested in on February 8, 2021. Anushka Sharma also participated with Virat Kohli in this investment round, making it a couple investment. It was the wellness startup Hyperice, which was the previous investment done by Virat Kohli on September 18, 2021. He also contributed to the fresh funding round of the Indian fintech startup Digit, which raised its valuation to $3.5 billion after the investment done by Virat Kohli. Besides Digit, Kohli has invested in dozens of startups from all sectors.
From Fashion to Insurance, Kohli has contributed to a variety of brands. In this article, we will discuss Virat Kohli and his funded startups. Let's get started!
Startups Funded By Virat Kohli
- Rage Coffee
- Blue Tribe
- Sport Convo
- Universal Sportsbiz
- Galactus Funware Technology Pvt Ltd
- Digit
- Chisel Fitness
- Hyperice
Startup Brands Owned by Virat Kohli
Startups Funded By Virat Kohli
Here are listed some of the startups which are funded by the captain of the Indian cricket team, Viral Kohli. Read to know more about Virat Kohli's investments in startups.
Rage Coffee
Founded - 2018
Founder - Bharat Sethi
Virat Kohli Investment - Undisclosed
Virat Kohli has invested in Rage Coffee on March 23, 2022, and as part of the deal, he has been announced the brand ambassador of the New Delhi-based coffee brand. The cricketer has invested an undisclosed amount in the deal. With the Virat Kohli led-funding round, Rage Coffee is all set to ramp up "scale production, launch innovative new products and add senior management talent", as per the official statement from the company. The earlier funding round was worth $5 million that Rage Coffee saw in August 2021, which came from the Series A round led by Sixth Sense Ventures.
Blue Tribe
Founded - November 2020
Founders - Nikki Arora Singh and Sandeep Singh
Virat Kohli Investment - Undisclosed
Celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma invested in Blue Tribe, a startup based in plant-based meat products, which aims to manufacture and distribute delicacies like frozen minced chicken, chicken nuggets, keema, sausages, and momos. This adds another promising investment towards a growing startup in the list of the companies of Virat Kohli.
Though the look, feel, taste, and cooking style would be the same as the original animal-based meat variants but all of these will be based on plant products. Blue Tribe has been founded by Sandeep Singh and Nikki Arora Singh in 2017 as a meat alternative startup, which claims to use vegetables like peas, soybeans, lentils, grains, and more. All of these are proven to provide a mix of proteins, vitamins, and other nutrients necessary for healthy living.
Anushka and Virat claimed that they have been following meat-free diet for many years now and now want to come up and "tell people how they can be more conscious and leave less impact on the planet by switching to a plant-based diet", as mentioned in a statement by Anushka Sharma in a report dated February 8, 2022.
Sport Convo
Founded - 2014
Founders - Amrit Johal and Vishal Patel
Virat Kohli Investment - Undisclosed
Sport Convo is a London-based social media startup, fascinatingly developed to minor the gap between Sports Players and their Fans. Virat Kohli invested in Sport Convo at the age of 26, in 2014.
The startup is founded by Amrit Johal and Vishal Patel. Besides Virat Kohli, Sport Convo has several other investors also such as Praveen Reddy who is also the Co-founder of Sport Convo, and Jasneel Nagi, the Chief Designer.
Virat Kohli finds this startup a very intriguing way to connect with his followers and the new ones. This startup is very beneficial for sporting enthusiasts and sports fans and lovers, and this is what attracted Virat Kohli the most and made him invest in this company. Many other sportsmen are also collaborating with Sport Convo for its investment venture.
Universal Sportsbiz
Founded - 2012
Founder - Anjana Reddy
Virat Kohli Investment - $2.53 million (Rs 19.30 crores)
Sportsbiz is a prominent Fashion startup that recently received funding of INR 19.3 crores by Cornerstone Sports LLP, representing Virat Kohli. In fact, Virat Kohli together with Cornerstone Sports firm holds a total of 4282 shares of the company. The cost of each share is around INR 47,571 along with INR 10 of nominal value.
Sportsbiz is a startup backed by Sachin Tendulkar and now, has one of its investors as Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli previously engaged with Sportsbiz once for a promotional event for their fashion brand.
Alan Joseph
Galactus Funware Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Founded - May 2018
Founders - Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra
Virat Kohli Investment - Undisclosed
The Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Virat Kohli has invested in the Bengaluru-based startup, Galactus Funware Technology Pvt. Ltd. Virat Kohli invested in this startup in early 2019 and procured debentures worth INR 33.42 lakh.
Virat Kohli signed a 10-year contract with the Galactus Funware Technology Pvt Ltd and was allotted compulsory convertible debentures worth INR 33.32 Lakh. After 10 years, he would be holding a 0.051 stake in the company along with a 1:1 conversion ratio. In other words, Virat Kohli will receive one share for each compulsory convertible debenture (CCD).
Digit
Founded - 2016
Founders - Kamesh Goyal, Philip Varghese, and Vijay Kumar
Virat Kohli Investment - $262K (Rs 2 crore)
Digit is a Pune-based insurance startup founded by Kamlesh Goyal, Philip Varghese, and Vijay Kumar. The Digit insurance startup company is backed by Fairfax Group in Canada, which is owned by Indo-Canadian Prem Watsa and is headquartered in Toronto. Digit opened its first-ever external funding round in January 2020, which was led by A91 Partners, Faering Capital, and TVS Capital and infused $84 million in the startup.
The next Digit funding round came in a month later when Virat Kohli along with his wife Anushka Sharma, invested close to $340,000 (INR 2.5 crore) of funds. Kohli holds shares worth INR 1.73 crore while Anushka Sharma holds INR 43 lakh worth in shares. The couple holds 0.25% of the Digit shares. Besides this, Cornerstone Sports LLP which represents Virat Kohli has also invested INR 1 crore in Digit. Moreover, the employees of the company have also invested in the funding round of Digit with more than INR 30 crore.
Chisel Fitness
Founded - January 2015
Founders - Virat Kohli and Satya Sinha
Virat Kohli Investment - $11.81 million (Rs 90 crore)
Chisel Fitness is a Bengaluru-based startup that specialises in the fitness of the Corporate sector. Virat Kohli launched Chisel Fitness in association with Franchise India in Mumbai. Kohli reportedly owns 30% stakes in Chisel, and had already invested around Rs 90 crore in the chain of gyms and fitness centres. These gyms were inaugurated under the name of Chisel Fitness company.
The Chisel gyms are now being established in numerous locations with different sizes and facilities based on the area. Moreover, it has also been announced that the International sports experts will be training in these gyms that are seeing a massive expansion.
Hyperice
Founded - 2010
Founders - Anthony Katz
Virat Kohli Investment - Undisclosed
Virat Kohli has invested in wellness startup, Hyperice with which the company makes its foray into India. The captain of the men's cricket team of India joined Hyperice as an athlete investor and the global brand ambassador, which previously onboarded Naomi Osaka, footballer Erling Haaland and NBA player Ja Morant as athlete investors and brand ambassadors.
Founded by Anthony Katz in 2010 and based out of the United States, Hyperice has its presence in the US, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Portugal till now, and is currently planning to expand in India. The company has widened its product lines throughout the years, which now has a considerable number of products including the contrast therapy device Hyperice X, percussion massager Hypervolt, vibrating rollers Vyper, portable heat massages Venom, Hypersphere, massager line of Normatec, and more.
Startup Brands Owned by Virat Kohli
Apart from funding some promising startups, the former Indian Captain is also the owner of a few startup brands that are now growing and developing to be some emerging brands. Some of those brands are:
One8 Commune
One8 Commune is a chain of restobar, that is owned by Virat Kohli. The place gives out a chic atmosphere, the first outlet of the restaurant was launched in the year 2017. It was Kohli's first venture in the food and beverage industry. The restaurant serves a classy yet modern ambience and is suitable for all age groups. the decorations give a cool vibe that everyone can accustom with. With several outlets in India, the restobar is emerging as one of the popular places to hang out.
Nueva
Nueva is a fine dining bar and restaurant that is owned by Virat Kohli, the restaurant is based in New Delhi. The restaurant is South American themed and the interior is filled with great Native American arts. The restaurant promises to bring the touch of New York in New Delhi with its ambience and food. Nueva was founded in the year 2017.
Puma One8
In the year 2017, Virat Kohli along with a collaboration with popular German sportswear Puma launched his athleisure brand One8. The items consist of are basically activewear and are sports-related, like apparel, footwear and accessories. The partnership with Puma was to ensure that One8 will evolve into a premium brand in future. The designers of Puma even looked into the wardrobe of Kohli for inspiration during the creation of products of One8.
FC Goa
Football Club Goa is a professional football club of Goa, the team is one of the franchises that compete in the Indian Super League. The club was founded in the year 2014 and co-owned by Virat Kohli.
UAE Royals
UAE Royals is a Dubai based Tennis team, the franchise was founded in the year 2014. One of the world's greatest tennis players, Roger Federer was a part of this franchise. In 2015, Virat Kohli joined as the co-owner of the team and invested in the franchise.
Bengaluru Yodhas
Bengaluru Yodhas is one of the pro wrestling league teams based in Bangalore. In the year 2015, Virat Kohli was announced as the co-owner of the team. It is Kohli's third association with a sports team apart from cricket.
Wrogn
Wrogn is a luxury clothing brand owned by Virat Kohli that specializes in providing fashionable apparel that has some funky and cool vibes. The company was founded in the year 2012 by Anjana Reddy and Virat Kohli becomes a co-owner of the brand in 2013. The headquarters of the company is situated in Bengaluru.
Stepathlon Kids
Being a fitness freak himself, it is not surprising, that Virat Kohli is investing in something that is related to fitness. Stepathlon Kids is a lifestyle brand that focuses on the health and wellness of kids. Virat Kohli along with Stepathlon. The brand promotes and urges kids to follow a healthy lifestyle and eating habits. It is India's first and gamified health platform that was launched in the year 2016.
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Conclusion
Many notable sportsmen such as Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar have invested in dozens of startups. Now, with the growing startup ecosystem in India, the Indian Cricket Team Captain Virat Kohli has also joined the club and has invested in many startups.
The 33-year-old Delhiite, is known for his tremendous performances on the field and has emerged as one of the finest sportsmen in the history of cricket already. Besides, Virat Kohli is also aiming to cement his name as one of the popular faces of today's brands for which he is collaborating with promising brands across niches. Stay tuned for more updates!
FAQs
What is net worth of Virat Kohli?
Virat Kohli is the third richest cricketer in the world with a net worth of over $130 Million, as of March 2022.
What is the age of Virat Kohli?
Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 and is 33 years old.
Is Virat Kohli an investor?
Virat Kohli is an investor for many startups across different categories from mobile gaming, fashion wear, food products, and fintech industries.
Who is the richest cricketer in world?
Virat Kohli is the third richest cricketer in the world after Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Sachin Tendulkar is currently the richest cricketer in the world, as of February 2022, with a net worth of INR 819+ crore.
What are the companies that Virat Kohli has invested in?
If you are wondering about the companies that Virat Kohli has invested in. Here's a Virat Kohli company name list:
- Rage Coffee
- Blue Tribe
- Sport Convo
- Galactus Funware Technology Pvt Limited
- Universal Sportsbiz
- Digit Insurance
- Chisel Fitness
- Hyperice