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Adidas Family-Backed Sports Tech Fund Eyes Indian Startups

leAD is looking to set up an India-dedicated fund to back startups in the country.

An employee carries shoe boxes inside an Adidas AG Originals store in Berlin, Germany. (Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)
An employee carries shoe boxes inside an Adidas AG Originals store in Berlin, Germany. (Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)

Berlin-based sports accelerator leAD said it will back Indian startups working on sports technologies.

The sports accelerator program set up by the grandsons of Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, is scouting for startups in the area of fan engagement, sports technology, e-games for its three-month program in Berlin. “We feel there are a lot passionate sports startups in the country,” Horst Bente, co-founder of leAD sports told BloombergQuint in an interview.

“India is a big market for us, which goes beyond cricket, and there is a lot of disruption taking place in sports tech,” he said, adding that they are also looking to set up an India-dedicated programme and fund to back startups in the country.

Out of the 23 companies shortlisted so far in the last two cohorts, only one Indian startup, Rooter, has ever made to the program in the last two cohorts.

Besides the accelerator program, it has also launched ADvantage, a $50 million fund along with Israel-based venture capital platform OurCrowd, to make growth investments in startups.

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