KOCHI: That India is a cricket-crazy country is known. Seeking to connect the participants in a startup ecosystem with each other informally, SaiKiran Gunda founded Startup Cricket League (SCL) in 2015.
Being part of the startup space for a few years now, SaiKiran realised the necessity of connecting startup founders with mentors and investors for informal discussions. He did this via Cricket - one of the most loved sports in the country.
SCL is built on the concept of Connecting, Learning and Showcasing around a 6-over match of Cricket.
“In the last two seasons, over 150 startups took part. Many startup enablers like coworking spaces, incubators, accelerators and investment firms were onboard too who have interacted and have collaborated with each other,” says SaiKiran.
On the funding aspect, SaiKiran says, “Like IPL, we operate like an entity run by sponsors and supported by the startup community. We have had brands like Nasscom, Citrus Pay, PayU Money, Bambino, Ace2Three as our sponsors and we have other supporting organisations such as T-Hub, TLabs, HYSEA, TiE, etc.”
The company, which has actor Akhil Akkineni as its brand ambassador, has scaled to three additional cities in its second season - Bengaluru, Jaipur and New Delhi, apart from Hyderabad, and is on a recruitment drive currently.
For more details, visit www.startupcricketleague.com