When Americans think of major sports, football, baseball, and basketball are first on the list. Around the world, though, the popularity of these sports pales in comparison to that of more common pastimes. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, with more than 300 million participants and 1.2 billion fans. 

However, cricket lacks a dominant apparel or equipment brand. Furthermore, cricket administrators and recreational players alike struggle to cobble together a variety of software to manage league schedules, record statistics, and more without a clear winner in the cricket administration market. 

Cricket has a diverse, global, and passionate fanbase eager to organize a league, pick up a bat, or watch a match. Cricket entrepreneurs have the opportunity to capture hundreds of millions of eyes with a well-designed software offering that caters to serious and recreational cricketers alike.

CricClubs is a truly comprehensive solution for cricket administrators, players, and fans worldwide. The CricClubs software suite is most easily summarized in three pillars, which roughly map to the three components of CricClubs’ revenue model. 

First, CricClubs is a digital management portal that allows cricket administrators, from professional cricket management bodies all the way down to recreational cricket teams, to manage the business of cricket. Organizers can determine league calendars, manage communication with players, record match data and player performance statistics, and much more in an all-in-one cricket management system. CricClubs also offers a cricket academy management portal that allows administrators of youth cricket development academies to track attendance, manage payments, and coordinate schedules with other teams. The digital management portal drives CricClubs’ revenue through subscription fees that range from a few dollars per month for casual leagues to hundreds of dollars per month for large governing bodies. 

CricClubs is also an e-commerce marketplace allowing cricket administrators, players, and fans to order cricket apparel and equipment, including customized cricket jerseys for teams or leagues. CricClubs partners with apparel manufacturers and cricket equipment makers to offer a full range of products while profiting off of the resale margin. 

Lastly, CricClubs offers multimedia solutions designed to spread the game of cricket beyond players and administrators. CricClubs members can create game livestreams that can be shared with anyone in the world through the CricClubs app. Moreover, CricClubs offers post-production graphic overlays to professionalize cricket videos for engaging shares on social media and team sites. CricClubs receives additional revenue from these multimedia services and also forges sponsor partnerships with major international brands who are featured on big game livestreams. Brand partnerships do not pair exclusively with CricClubs’ multimedia solutions vertical, and they also generate additional revenue outside of livestream sponsorships. 

CricClubs states that it is the number one cricket league management solution worldwide, and its user statistics seem to validate that assertion. CricClubs is used by over 2 million administrators, players, and fans worldwide, with a compound annual growth rate of 66%. CricClubs is used by over 5,000 leagues in 57 countries and is partnered with 18 national governing bodies. In the United States alone, more than 85% of cricket participants are CricClubs users. CricClubs has generated over $1 million in revenue since its inception in 2015.

CricClubs was founded by two business executives who blend expertise in technology, global business development, and cricket. Ganesh Nallapareddy is CricClubs’ CEO and Head of Operations, and he previously led the Milwaukee Premier cricket league. Nallapareddy developed a software management solution for the Milwaukee league and on-boarded more United States leagues onto the platform before launching the official CricClubs company. 

Visweswara Kottapalli is CricClubs’ co-founder, President, and Head of Strategy and Global Business Development. He has 19 years of experience in information technology and management, and he focuses on building relationships with key global cricket stakeholders such as the International Cricket Council (the official governing body of cricket worldwide).

In the near term, CricClubs plans to expand aggressively into the Indian market. Cricket is hugely popular in India, and CricClubs plans to hire local sales representatives to forge partnerships with local leagues. The company also plans to ink agreements with major media organizations to power a large marketing campaign aimed at increasing awareness of CricClubs among grassroots players. 

Beyond Indian expansion, CricClubs is focused on driving user growth worldwide through continued partnerships with governing bodies and popular leagues. CricClubs’ media services vertical is critical for driving brand awareness through livestreams of major matches. Ultimately, CricClubs aims to be the definitive cricket management system for the full spectrum of cricketers worldwide.

• Impressive traction: It’s rare for a company raising its first formal capital to boast 2 million users. CricClub’s comprehensive cricket management platform has already won business from some of the most important stakeholders in global cricket, and future marketing campaigns and partnerships promise to further reach the 1.2 billion cricket fans worldwide. CricClubs is uniquely positioned to dominate the cricket market with a deep moat that competitors will struggle to cross.

• Multiple revenue streams: CricClubs is not just a cricket management platform catering to league administrators. The company also sells cricket equipment and customizes cricket apparel to cater directly to cricket players and fans. CricClubs’ multimedia services drive high-quality, shareable cricket video content that further cements the value proposition for administrators and drives user acquisition through livestreams and scorekeeping. All in all, almost anyone passionate about cricket has some reason to log in to CricClubs.

• Potential of the Indian market: CricClubs has grown to 2 million users, generated $1 million in revenue, and partnered with 5,000 leagues without seriously approaching the Indian market, arguably the cricket capital of the world. An estimated 400 million Indians watch national cricket matches on television. If CricClubs can advertise to those fans, their user and revenue figures could spike dramatically. CricClubs has a clear strategy for leaning into the Indian market, which is extremely promising for the company’s future success. 

Cricket has a passionate and dedicated fan base of 1.2 billion worldwide, including 300 million players. Even in the United States, 30 million fans follow cricket leagues and watch cricket matches. Cricket is a huge global market, and CricClubs has already emerged as a multifaceted market leader. 

While the CricClubs value proposition and user numbers are impressive, potential investors should consider that $1 million in revenue after three years of growth and 2 million users may signal that the CricClubs business model is not particularly profitable. While CricClubs lays out clear plans for acquiring additional users, particularly from India, the company may lack plans for efficiently monetizing each additional user to boost revenues and ultimately generate superior returns for investors. 

Few models of a global sports administration platform exist, so CricClubs’ exit potential is difficult to project. The global cricket governing body, International Cricket Council, may seek to acquire the company for its league management technology and user list, but it is dubious whether an organization of that type has the money to facilitate such a transaction. Global sports leaders like Nike or Adidas could expand their purview into sports administration, but such a move seems unlikely in the near- to mid-term. CricClubs’ best exit plan may be to develop a recognizable global brand name and pursue a public offering in the US or abroad, where cricket is even more popular. 

CricClubs is impressively comprehensive and has demonstrated an ability to garner large user numbers through its administration software, e-commerce marketplace, and multimedia distribution. With an attractive opportunity for user acquisition in India on the horizon, now is a good time to back the company that may become the global leader in cricket. Therefore, CricClubs is a Deal to Watch.