Cricketer Yuvraj Singh-backed early stage investment firm YouWeCan Ventures has invested in Luminosa Education Pvt Ltd, a firm that runs multi-sport programmes for pre- and early-school children under the SportyBeans banner.
The deal value has not been disclosed but the average ticket size of YouWeCan's investments is in the Rs 10-25 lakh range.
The Economic Times, which first reported the development, said the VC firm has picked a 10 to 15 per cent stake in SportyBeans.
It added that the company is looking to increase the number of its centres to 200 from the current 35 located in 17 cities. The firm is also eyeing an additional investment of $8-10 million.
Although a company spokesperson confirmed the investment, an email query on more details did not elicit any response till the time of filing this article.
SportyBeans caters to the physical fitness needs of children aged between one-and-a-half years and eight years. It runs programmes for the entire year, with two classes a week covering nine ball sports: soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf, tennis, cricket, rugby and hockey. The company claims it has a user base of 15,000 children.
The company, which was launched in 2009 by Karan Sareen, is gearing up to use mobile technology to allow users to book online and for personal coaching and in-school sessions. It also counts Kapil Sareen and Suchint Joshi as top management executives.
The company is also looking to launch its operations globally. As part of the plan, it has signed an international franchise in Mauritius and would soon launch one in Malaysia.
This is the eighth known investment by YouWeCan with many of his bets on online marketplaces. The ventures it has backed include JetSetGo (a marketplace for booking private jets and helicopters), Cartisan (automotive services), Vyomo (beauty services), Moovo (on-demand logistics), Edukart (online education) and Healthians (online healthcare). Most recently, it invested in the Indian franchisee of American burger chain Carl's Jr.
Yuvraj Singh launched YouWeCan in April this year as a $10 million seed-stage venture capital fund, along with business associate Nishant Singhal to back internet startups in the country. It had said it would look to raise around $50 million more from others to increase the investible corpus.
