Podume funding: Podume raises $1 million in pre-seed round led by Titan Capital, Bharat Founders Fund and other angel investors

Poudem, a platform for engaging sports creators and fans, has closed a $1 million pre-seed round from a host of investors including Titan Capital, RTP Global, Point One Capital, Bharat Founders Fund, along with prominent investors such as Sujeet Kumar ( Co-Founder, udaan ), Ganesh Krishnan and Srini (Co-Founder, Grovestories), Harsh (Find), among several others. The newly raised funds will be used to further develop the sports creator ecosystem and invest in products to increase the fan offering.

Poudem was founded in 2022 by Ayush Prashant, Dhananjay Mishra, Mayank Sharma and Partsarthi. Besides being sports fans, the founding team has a decade-long association with startups and now unicorns Flipkart and Udaan. Sports in India alone is a huge $27 billion industry, with more than 100 million fans looking for deeper engagement, over and above the one-way broadcasts of live matches, but no online platform caters exclusively to the needs of the sports fan community. While there are more activities that take place before and during a sports game – pre-game analysis, live game commentary, online social media discussions, fantasy and prediction contests – they take place on multiple online platforms. Podume aims to integrate all of the above experiences into one app – which it envisions as a ‘second screen’ for every sports fan on match day.

Speaking about the funds raised, Ayush Prashant, co-founder and CEO of Podeum, said in a statement, “Podeum is more than doubling its engagement volume month-on-month, and creators are driving fan growth.

Commenting on the investment, Bipin Shah, Partner, Titan Capital said, “We see huge potential in their idea and are happy to support their vision of building a social media vertical for sports fans and experts.

Nishit Garg, Partner, RTP Global said, “Social engagement is a key element of sports fan engagement, but fans today do not have engaged communities where they can interact with each other during games. This all changes with Podume. It gives people a platform to express their opinions and lead communities.”

Currently focusing on cricket, Podumem is building an online community space where fans can play live fantasy games and predictions, chat with other fans and get live expert analysis from sports experts and celebrities. As sports creators are an important element in the above engagement, Podume aims to build an ecosystem for existing and aspiring sports influencers to grow, engage and monetize their follower base. With more than 200 sports creators hosted on the platform, including Wasim Jaffer, Veda Krishnamurthi and Navneeth Krishna, Podium aims to grow its creator base manifold in the coming months.

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