CricHQ: A Sports-Tech Startup by Stephen Fleming, Brendon Mccullum and Simon Baker

In the beginning, sports and technology didn't generally appear like the most natural blending. What did you require in baseball other than a bat and a ball? Or in basketball other than a ball and a hoop? What amount would you be able to truly change? As we've seen over the years, however, there's dependably room for improvement with our most adored interests. Whether it's with the end goal of making something worth being thankful for or altering a broken system by and large, technology has assumed a major role in perfecting the sports that we want to analyze and vacillate over.

The good news is-- managers and fans alike have appear addicted to data. In this way, the chance to collect more will inevitably make sports additionally compelling for fans and attract bigger audiences. The open door for brands, if they can get the fit right, is huge.

Cricket in itself is a big opportunity for companies crunching numbers. To disrupt this space “CricHQ” came into being. Founded by former New Zealand Cricket team captain Stephen Fleming, wicket keeper and record breaker Brendon Mccullum and New Zealand based entrepreneur Simon Baker in 2010 (3 years ago in India), the company aims to eradicate the digital lag in the cricket industry (for both fans and the industry itself).

What is CricHQ?

“We’re not a traditional media company; we provide digital software solutions to governing bodies from all around the world. This includes statistics, points tables, leaderboards, registrations, live scoring, CRM, communications, niche social networking, high performance reporting and talent identification (scouting). The same services are offered in India as well as internationally,” said Neil Martin, COO of CricHQ, in a conversation with Business Insider.

So is it like the movie ‘Moneyball’? –“Yeah, somewhat. It’s one of my favourite movies though. We don’t provide ball by ball statistics but we do provide data based on performance. For instance, how does Virat plays against left hand spinners or what players are suited for which match (helps them decide the squad with numbers).

Monetization & Traction

Neil stated that they’re currently working with Hyderabad Cricket Association, Chhattisgarh Cricket Association, Kerala Cricket Association and then a number of district, academies, tournaments, and clubs in India. He further claimed that they’re adding 30-40 clients every month. 

“We now have 4 registered offices in India (New Delhi, Bangalore and two in Kochi) and 75 staff members, which will rise to over 100 this year. 4 State Associations are signed as our customers, and there are more in the pipeline. We have over 400 other clients- including Districts, Academies, Corporate Events and over 1 million active users,” he added.

The company works on a scaling model (changes with the size of client). When further asked Neil explained, “There are 2 main revenue streams. Software license fees & advertising/sponsorship. There are many other future revenue streams but they are all offshoots of these core principals.”

Funding

CricHQ last raised $10M from a Singapore based firm Tembusu Partners. Neil further stated that they’re planning to raise another round very soon. They’ve raised a total of ~$21M in five rounds. They acquired TCS27 (cricket software for recording scores for cricket matches) in November last year and Turning Square sports analysis and prediction platform in March 2013.

Sport has adapted technology quickly over the last ten years, collecting data to enhance athletic performance. Now professional clubs have understood that this data is valuable in different courses as well, to make the match-day encounter all the more energizing and to reach those at home. This is the present revolution in sport.

I don't think individuals are asking themselves enough, how you utilize this impressive tech innovation to help the trainer, the athlete, the video guy, the analytics guy, the coach between games, the coach amid the game. If those individuals simply stroll through each of those, that’s how you wind up with answers that really make a difference in sports.