Venture capital funding in the startup space has been showing signs of drastic slowdown when compared to last year’s funding frenzy. A recent report by KPMG and CB Insights however, says that while the funding in absolute terms may have decreased, the quality of these deals are much better than before. And better quality deals equal stable startups, the report concludes.
Take a look at what’s happening this week on Startup Street.
Boman Irani Turns Investor For Rooter
Recently, Bollywood actor Boman Irani turned an angel investor for sports engagement platform Rooter. Irani was one of the investors in a fresh round of funding raised by the startup.
This is the first time that the Three Idiots star has made an investment in a startup.
The 6-8 month old sports startup focuses on sports interaction using pre-match quizzes and chat forums, live match predictions and post-match analysis, according to information on the company’s website. As of now, Rooter covers sports such as football, cricket, F1 racing and basketball.
The latest round of funding — an amount that the founders did not wish to disclose — will be used to strengthen their technological team. The startup is also keen on associations with teams, leagues and fan clubs and will use parts of the fund to advance their collaborations, founder Piyush Kumar said in a emailed response to BloombergQuint.
Additionally, Kumar is looking to establish an offline tie up with restaurants and pubs which will allow fans to meet each other and enjoy live sports.
The subscription for Rooter is currently free. Users can join through their social network. But we will soon be introducing a revenue model where brands/ F&B outlets can advertise and use our platform for lead generation. And we will also introduce a very basic monthly subscription fees for users that will allow them to win a lot of prizes, brand gifts and discount vouchers for tickets and F&B outlets around. It will however be a Freemium model where few fans can continue to play for free as well.Piyush Kumar, Founder and CEO, Rooter
Read the full story on BloombergQuint.
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