Comcast Spin‑Off Versant Weighs Sale of Youth Sports App

Versant is reportedly exploring a potential sale of its youth sports app, though details remain limited and not yet confirmed by major outlets.

The available information suggests Versant is evaluating strategic options, but no buyer or valuation has been publicly disclosed.

The earliest mention of Versant’s youth sports strategy appears to have come from Capwolf.com on May 8, 2025. That outlet published an article titled “Versant’s Bold Sports Strategy Unveiled”, which discussed the company’s broader sports ambitions and hinted at digital initiatives, including potential moves around youth sports.

What we know so far

• Versant’s core identity today: Most publicly available information about Versant points to its role as a sports equipment and cricket gear brand rather than a technology company.
• Youth sports app angle: Recent reports indicate Versant may also operate a digital platform for youth sports management or engagement, and is now considering a sale of that app.
• Strategic rationale:
  • They want to refocus on core businesses (e.g., cricket gear and apparel in Versant’s case).
  • The app has attracted interest from larger players in sports tech or youth engagement platforms.
  • They see better monetization opportunities by divesting rather than scaling internally.

Why this matters

• Youth sports apps are hot assets: Globally, platforms that manage leagues, training, and community engagement for young athletes are seeing strong demand. Investors view them as gateways to long-term customer relationships.
• Potential buyers:
  • Sports tech startups looking to expand their user base.
  • Large sporting goods brands seeking digital engagement tools.
  • Private equity firms interested in scaling subscription-based youth platforms.
• Market context: The sale would align with broader consolidation trends in sports technology, where niche apps often get absorbed by larger ecosystems.

Caveat

• No official confirmation yet: The current information is speculative. Versant’s public-facing identity is still heavily tied to cricket gear, and there is no detailed press release or valuation data available.
• Possible confusion: Some sources may conflate Versant’s retail brand with a separate digital initiative. Until clarified, treat this as an exploratory move rather than a finalized transaction.

The story is still nascent and speculative, with Capwolf’s coverage being the initial spark.  

As Cricket Resumes After Pandemic, Crickex Launches the Sports Exchange Program

Crickex, the leading provider in sports exchange in India is known to deliver exchange programs across various sports including Cricket, Tennis and Soccer.

Sports events around the world witnessed cancellations while the sports lovers missed viewing all the action as their favourite sports stars were locked in amid the recent pandemic changed the world around us. But as the world limps back to the new normal, sports are getting back into action. Cricket has gradually resumed and the fans cheered as India announced the resumption of the Indian Premier League to be scheduled in the UAE from Sat, 19 Sep, 2020 – Sun, 8 Nov, 2020.

Crickex is the leading provider in sports exchange in India. As the industry-top-notch sports platform, Crickex is driven by cutting edge technology and a focus on offering a trusted platform to customers in India. Crickex offers a best-in-class platform and ensures all the sports fans will have the ultimate online sports betting experience. Crickex brings in a new experience to sports lovers as they now have the liberty to bet against each other on a safe online platform, offering an alternative to a range of betting platforms where you can only play against the body itself.

Operated by VB Digital N.V Company, registered in Curacao and regulated by the Curacao Gaming Commission, Crickex offers its online betting solutions to the sports fans within India who can register and experience the same on the web portal crickex.com.

Pradeep Kumar, the Managing Director of Crickex said, “The sporting fans across the globe and in India are itching to see their favourite stars in action as sports resume after widespread lockdowns and travel restrictions globally. We understand the need for sports exchange and resumption of exciting transactions that allow the fans to prove a point as they predict winning teams and game results. Betting is not pure luck. It requires a deeper understanding of the venue, conditions, the varying forms that players carry to the game and how a team picks a winning side while the other ends up with a losing strategy. The excitement of the fans will see a multi-fold increase as they try to prove a point to a fellow fan rooting for the opposite team. Even though many areas are still reeling under lockdowns and restrictions, the sporting fan can still participate in their favorite game in their own unique way. Crickex understands the Indian consumer and allows the users to use a range of payment options including Bank Deposits Rupee-O, UPI, wallets and online bank transfers. We have seen exciting traction with hundreds of fans signing up and as the IPL inches closer, we will definitely see thousands more signing up and playing their own game while the sports stars sweat it out on ground action.”

The web platform launch saw an immediate fan following with the official Facebook page inching towards 100,000 follower mark within days of its launch. Crickex offers the latest for Cricket fanatics seeking access to everything from previews, reviews, interviews, features, analysis, statistics, photo slide shows, audio and video files. Adding to its original invitational offerings, Crickex announced a range of incentives for its existing customer base and those registering for the first time. The promotional offers include:

• Welcome Bonus: On joining Crickex, new members receive a 100% Welcome Bonus up to INR 5,000.


• Weekly Lucky Draw: Crickex announced a Lucky Draw, where 3 selected winners take home an iPhone 11 each week.


• Birthday Bonus allows its members to claim a bonus on their birthday.

Crickex has Top Online Gaming Industry Providers like Evolution Gaming, Micro Gaming, Playtech, JDB, Spade Gaming, SEXY Gaming and lot more. Along with one of the best sports exchange platforms, Crickex provides wide variety of other popular online games like Online Slots and Live Dealer Games.

Saurav, the Marketing Head at Crickex added, “We are excited to see the initial traction and are confident that Crickex will brings thousands, if not lacs of sporting fans on a safe betting platform allowing fans to participate with a virtual view. We will also be broadcasting games as we go along. The excitement for all of us at Crickex as we view the initial popularity increases by the day and we are happy to be part of our member’s sports delight in this sporting journey on India’s favourite spots exchange program. Be it lockdowns or the emerging un-lockdowns, Crickex will not let the sporting die-hards emotions to go in vain.”

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Sports Discovery App Sportido Raises Funding led by Inflection Point Ventures and SucSEED Venture Partners

Noida-based Sports discovery app Sportido secures its second round of funding led by Inflection Point Ventures and SucSEED Venture Partners

Sportido, a sports discovery platform, seeks to solve the problem of majority of India’s urban adult population who want to play a sport but find it hard to gather people or lack access to good sports facilities. Sportido helps its users connect with like-minded people nearby and book venues online to play their sport. The start-up also provides its partner-venues with a facility management app (called ‘Charge by Sportido’) that enables them to track bookings and manage their customers and inventory. 

Founded by Neeraj Aggarwala (who had previously co-founded Easypolicy) and Akhil Ramachandran, Sportido aims to grow the ecosystem for sports and fitness enthusiasts. According to Neeraj, “The entire ecosystem is growing rapidly to cater to the increasing demand for Sports and Fitness. We have witnessed a 7x growth in the number of Sports facilities in just the last 3 years and Sportido’s platform helps us sit in the driver’s seat of this ecosystem.”

Since its previous fundraise in Oct 2018, Sportido has grown to 5 cities and their monthly sales have grown over 30x. Akhil Ramachandran mentions that “this growth is primarily due to stickiness of users and high repeat transactions. The average user has transacted 7 times in the last 6 months, which gives us a very high customer lifetime value.” On funding from IP Ventures Neeraj says, “This new round of investment will help Sportido in product enhancement and expanding to new cities.”

[caption id="attachment_139031" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Neeraj Aggarwala[/caption]

IP Ventures angel investor Mayank Jain, speaking on his investment in the start-up said, “Sportido is doing an amazing job in making these facilities accessible and developing the ecosystem so that it’s easy for common people to pursue sports. Sports is necessary for physical and mental fitness and a must for society as a whole.” Further, upon his experience with IP Ventures he expressed, “IPV has been a great learning experience for me. I’m impressed by the professionalism and approach in identifying, selecting and mentoring start-ups."

A combination of social networking and service-aggregation, Sportido helps its users discover places to play any sport with like-minded people around them, explore new sports, participate in events, and even find deals on clubs and gyms nearby. 

The app also enables its users to create their own event and invite participation from other users nearby who are interested in the same sport. The Company’s mission is to inspire healthier and happier communities by helping them rediscover the joy of Sport.

IP Ventures was founded in 2017 by a group of accomplished CXOs who come with rich experience in the start-up ecosystem, either as co-founders themselves or by leading their organizations through various stages of funding. Their expertise lies not only in financial aspects such as private equity and venture capital but also in business strategy, expansion and risk mitigation.

7 Trendy Cricket Startups and Apps 2019

Cricket continues to be one of the most popular sports, not just in India, but around the globe. The popularity of Cricket has led to many developers creating innovative applications and websites. These can change the way that we watch and enjoy cricket. They allow users to get a more detailed look at Cricket matches. One way to up the excitement of matches can be to place a bet. You can find more information about the best betting website on this cricket betting guide. Not all Cricket betting websites are the same, and this guide will help you to find the websites that provide the best value and user experience. In this article, we list 7 trendy Cricket startups and apps that are helping to change the perception of Cricket and allowing users to better engage with the sport.

1. CricHeroes

One of the best things about Cricket is that it is an accessible sport. It does not matter about your background. You can easily get involved in an amateur match. These matches can build new friendships and bonds. However, in the amateur world, it can be difficult to be as organized as professional matches. Some people prefer to have a competitive aspect where they can keep scores and performances recorded. CricHeroes is an innovative application that allows amateur cricketers to score their matches and tournament in real-time. It is a full Cricket network that allows people to show off their skills, and it presents a solution for the amateur league.

2. CricBuzz

The second startup on our list takes advantage of the new technology that has been available in recent years. These developments have changed the way that fans can watch and interact with Cricket matches. Previously, we have been limited to watching matches through one device. However, we are now highly interconnected with many multiple devices. CricBuzz is a startup that brings all these technologies together to provide a fast and highly immersive live Cricket experience. It is compatible with desktops, smartphones, web applications, and smart TVs. It provides cohesive coverage of every Cricket match.

3. BatFast

Another key technology development has been simulators. They are now far more realistic and immersive than they have ever been. This can allow players to hone their skills from a different environment. BatFast is a UK based company that develops simulators to allow more people to gain essential Cricket skills. Their simulators are flexible, portable and of the highest quality. This allows users to get an authentic Cricket experience from wherever they may be. These simulators have been used in cricket development centres as a training aid to the new generation of stars.

4.Cricnwin

One of the most exciting parts of watching Cricket is making predictions that come true. Cricnwin is a startup that allows you to win more than just bragging rights if your predictions are accurate. They offer a platform for Cricket enthusiasts to test their knowledge on quizzes or to test their prediction skills by selecting future outcomes of matches. They provide fantastic health and fitness coupons as prizes. The startup also has a fantastic team element, and there are tournaments that take place across the country.

5.Crikscore

Many players can find it hard to accurately track scoring. Crikscore is an application that makes it both and fun and easy to gamify the scoring of a Cricket match. Their innovative design makes the experience immersive and entertaining. It adds a new dimension to amateur Cricket games and also has a great leaderboard feature which allows players to compare their performances. 

6.Cricbounz

The next startup on our list is dedicated to finding the next Cricket star. It allows players to be added to a database and allows them to be found from different regions. It has many functions such as registering players and booking grounds for games. It also allows tournaments to be created and matches can be easily tracked. The multiple features of this application provide a cohesive solution to amateur cricketers who want to have a more professional experience.

7.Crictracker

The final startup on our list is Crictracker which provides revolutionary on the clock coverage of Cricket matches. It provides high-class analysis and the opinions of critics. It also features live standings that update throughout the day. It features highlights of games and is built on excellent journalism from a team of talented writers. They have amassed a strong social media following as a result of their innovative journalism and easy to use website.

These 7 Cricket startups and apps are changing the way that we perceive and play cricket in 2019. They are making the best use of technology to allow everyone to have a more exciting and enjoyable experience with Cricket at all levels. These applications and startups are also helping to spread the game to new audiences.

This Rio Olympics Meet SportsCafe - A Real Time Sports News App

If Sports is one of the loves of your life and you are keeping a close watch on Olympics games, then you would be super excited to know about Bangalore based Indian Media & Gaming startup SportsCafe.in and their latest mobile app SportsCafe.

The erratic work schedules that most of us follow nowadays leaves us a little time to keep a tab on the latest happenings of our favourite sports and teams. This is where SportsCafe.in steps in and comes to all sports lovers rescue.

SportsCafe.in aims at bringing all the latest of the latest action in the sports world from each and every part of the world to its readers by making optimum use of the latest technologies. It is focused on bridging the huge gap that currently exists in the online sports coverage in India and cover news stories across all sports and not just limited to Cricket, Badminton, Football, Hockey, Tennis or Kabaddi.

Having existed as a website since its inception in 2015, SportsCafe.in recently launched its own Android mobile app SportsCafe to make things more convenient and easy to use for the mobile savvy sports enthusiasts. The app was launched in June this year without any marketing and advertising cost or effort whatsoever, but inspite of this, it has been able to garner a good number of downloads and has been well-received among people. The app was able to get 760 downloads within first week of its launch.

According to SportsCafe.in, the app received such a good response only through word of mouth as they are currently one of the few apps that are dedicated for Indian sports .

The SportsCafe app comes power packed with impressive features such as segmented notifications that makes sure that the app user gets to read the kind of articles he/she is interested in and the Bookmarking feature that allows one to bookmark important articles right on the app.

In fact, the startup has also taken into account the user feedback it got from the website and incorporated it in their app. For example, one of the most common worry among SportsCafe.in users was, that the website used a lot of their data. The startup has tried to solve this by coming up with a unique lite-mode in their latest update were users will be able to read the content using very little data.

In the upcoming updates of the App, the startup is aiming to provide its users with information like where in and around their area will they be able to watch the next ManU game live, fun sporting tid-bits as they move around a city and a few other features that the startup wishes to keep a surprise for now. Their mission is to make SportsCafe a must have app for every sporting fan – not just for news/updates but also for utility.

SportsCafe.in is a labour of effort and hard work of five strong individuals, Dr. Prabu, Gaurav, Sahil, Ranaveer and Yashashvi.

Here's some brief info about their background and current roles at SportsCafe.in :

Dr. Prabu - In charge of content, SportsCafe.in

A JIPMER graduate, a practicing doctor for two years before doing his MBA from IIM- Ahmedabad. He was a consultant at McKinsey before deciding to dawn an Entrepreneur's hat at the age of 30.

Gaurav - In charge of gaming and partnerships, SportsCafe.in

An Electronics Engg from BE College, Shibpur and an IIM - Bangalore graduate, Gaurav has worked as a Delta One Trader at Deutsche Bank for four long years before taking a dive in the entrepreneurship world.

Sahil - The Tech Guy, SportsCafe.in

A NIT Trichi, IIM - Calcutta graduate, Sahil has worked as a coder at Goldman Sachs before being an Fx trader at Bank of America.

Ranaveer - The product/ UI guy, SportsCafe.in

The youngest of the lot at 25, Ranaveer is a graduate with masters from the Univ. Of Nottingham.

Yashashvi - CEO & In-charge, SportsCafe.in

Graduate from IIT Chennai and IIM - Calcutta. Prior to hopping on the entrepreneurship bandwagon, he has worked at McKinsey for 3 years.

Having launched its app, the next project in line for SportsCafe.in is to develop and launch a unique online prediction game around sports which is more tailored to the interests of Indian audience. The work on this has already been started and they plan to launch it by mid-September this year.

[Top Most Image - lazyllama / Shutterstock.com]

Boutline- A mobile app for all the sports enthusiasts

Boutline has come as a saviour for all those sports enthusiasts who end up missing the important games of their favourite sport due to their tight schedule. Boutline is in beta right now and currently available as an Android app for sports enthusiasts. Boutline aims at providing its users with a new and spectacular social visualization experience for sports. It brings you near to the sports you love and even lets you personalize them according to your interests.

The Boutbot feature keeps a track on the game time noise levels on the internet and then buzzes the user with critical updates and customized alerts all during the course of the game. By using Boutline, the user can tell everybody on the platform which game he or she is watching and which team they are supporting that day.

Boutline also scan the user’s sports related tweets, re-tweets, posts shared etc. Using all this information, Boutline builds up the user’s sports related DNA. The more the user makes use of the mobile app, the smarter it gets and shows better and rich content according to the user’s interest.

Boutline is a Bangalore based start-up. It was started in 2013 by Anand Satyan, Sharath Acharya and Febin John James. Anand Satyan has previously also co-founded Deliver with me which was a crowd-sourced eCommerce delivery start-up.  Sharath Acharya on the other hand loves making new things and has studied at Hult International Business School. He previously worked in Hewlett- Packard. Boutline has been incubated by Microsoft Ventures.

India is full of sports enthusiasts who love to trash talk with each other before, after and in between the games. Boutline takes care of this aspect of the game also. Banter is inbuilt sports chatter in Boutline which allows the user to have private conversations with family and friends while still enjoying the game from different places.  It also has Custom sports emoticons which helps the user to express exactly how he or she feels about Sachin missing the century or Yuvraj’s last ball sixer.

Boutline claims that it is building a home for all sports enthusiasts. It is a destination where all the fans of all the sports can meet each other and cheer for their favourite teams and consume all the content at a single spot. The app is currently only available for Android Smartphones on Google Play.

 

 

 

Boutline- A mobile app for all the sports enthusiasts

Boutline has come as a saviour for all those sports enthusiasts who end up missing the important games of their favourite sport due to their tight schedule. Boutline is in beta right now and currently available as an Android app for sports enthusiasts. Boutline aims at providing its users with a new and spectacular social visualization experience for sports. It brings you near to the sports you love and even lets you personalize them according to your interests.

The Boutbot feature keeps a track on the game time noise levels on the internet and then buzzes the user with critical updates and customized alerts all during the course of the game. By using Boutline, the user can tell everybody on the platform which game he or she is watching and which team they are supporting that day.

Boutline also scan the user’s sports related tweets, re-tweets, posts shared etc. Using all this information, Boutline builds up the user’s sports related DNA. The more the user makes use of the mobile app, the smarter it gets and shows better and rich content according to the user’s interest.

Boutline is a Bangalore based start-up. It was started in 2013 by Anand Satyan, Sharath Acharya and Febin John James. Anand Satyan has previously also co-founded Deliver with me which was a crowd-sourced eCommerce delivery start-up.  Sharath Acharya on the other hand loves making new things and has studied at Hult International Business School. He previously worked in Hewlett- Packard. Boutline has been incubated by Microsoft Ventures.

India is full of sports enthusiasts who love to trash talk with each other before, after and in between the games. Boutline takes care of this aspect of the game also. Banter is inbuilt sports chatter in Boutline which allows the user to have private conversations with family and friends while still enjoying the game from different places.  It also has Custom sports emoticons which helps the user to express exactly how he or she feels about Sachin missing the century or Yuvraj’s last ball sixer.

Boutline claims that it is building a home for all sports enthusiasts. It is a destination where all the fans of all the sports can meet each other and cheer for their favourite teams and consume all the content at a single spot. The app is currently only available for Android Smartphones on Google Play.