Venture Catalysts roots for live sports engagement; Leads a INR 4.5 crore in Rooter’s Pre-Series A funding round

In yet another demonstration of its ability to identify high-potential businesses and nurture them through capital and mentorship, Venture Catalysts, India’s No. 1 integrated incubator platform, has now added Rooter to its investment portfolio. Rooter is the first-of-its-kind Indian live sports social engagement platform which has distinguished itself in India as well as globally for its unique proposition. Rooter’s Pre-Series A funding round saw participation from VCats’ investors Dr. Khalid Al Tawil, Anjali Malhotra from Aviva, Pranay Nigotiya, Vishal Agarwal, Nishil Agarwal, Tharun Dhariwal and  Vivek Awasthi.

Rooter has introduced a never-seen-before social gaming experience to sports fans with a live fantasy game, live match prediction, and peer-to-peer engagement via integration of technology and social gaming. The funds invested by Venture Catalysts will be leveraged by the platform to further expand its growing user base, offer a multi-lingual experience on apps and launch new web products aimed at mass adoption. Further, the Rooter team is eyeing international expansion, a goal which has received a massive fillip thanks to this latest round of funding. 

Speaking on the investment, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & President – Venture Catalysts, said, “We had identified the massive potential and the game-changing ability of Rooter very early in its journey. During our Investor Pitch Day in Dubai, Rooter was one of the 6 promising start-ups selected for capital funding on the back of its disruptive model and how it had altered the way sports fans connect with one another. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength and has recently emerged as the first and only Indian start-up to be selected for the Adidas family-backed 2018 leAD Sports Accelerator Program. We are pleased to formally come onboard as an investor in Rooter and have confidence in the fact that Piyush and his team will leverage the capital invested in the most strategic way to fuel growth and unlock the platform’s full potential.” 

Piyush, Founder & CEO – Rooter, said, “At Rooter, we have had the singular vision of transforming the sports engagement landscape of India. Since our early days, we have received tremendous support and guidance from the VCats’ team on the best ways to achieve this vision. We are delighted that Venture Catalysts has shown trust and faith in our business approach yet again. With the freshly-infused capital, we aim to further expand the reach and appeal of Rooter and establish it on a global stage as the definitive sports engagement platform.”

Firmly cementing its disruptive potential within the global sports landscape, Rooter has recently been chosen amongst the 10 finalists of the 2018 leAD Sports Accelerator Program. More than 402 start-ups from 65+ countries applied for the 2018 leAD Sports Accelerator Program, including 59 sports start-ups from India. Rooter was selected after an open pitch, followed by 13-14 rounds of interviews with top experts across the global sports industry, further underlining its transformative potential in the sports engagement sphere.