Former Dealshare CEO believes India’s next big consumer play is youth sports
Bengaluru-based Sports For Life wants to turn structured sports training into a national, tech-enabled platform, much like Cult.fit did for fitness.
After scaling Dealshare to unicorn status, Sourjyendu Medda stepped down as CEO in early 2024. But the entrepreneur in him kept scouting for opportunities. His next bet? Youth sports in India.
“Indian families, particularly the economically privileged, are rapidly moving toward structured training, and the trend will only trickle down further. Yet 95% of this billion-dollar market remains unorganised. I saw an opportunity to create a full-stack platform combining global coaching standards, curriculum-based learning, and advanced AI technology to track performance,” Medda tells YourStory.
In 2024, this shift among urban families toward structured, outcome-driven sports training led Medda to build Sports For Life (SFL), a tech-enabled coaching platform aimed at professionalising the largely unorganised market.
SFL positions itself as a full-stack sportstech startup, blending global coaching standards with AI-led performance analytics. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company currently operates academies in Mumbai and Pune, offering training in football, tennis, chess, squash, and table tennis, with plans to add cricket.
Led by Medda as CEO and Armaan Tandon as COO, the 140-member team plans to expand into Bengaluru and the NCR region in 2026. Beyond coaching, SFL also organises competitive formats such as the SFL League (football), reinforcing its belief that sports and education together shape a healthy, disciplined, and successful life.
One of India’s first tech-enabled sports academies
To ensure that sports education is treated with the same seriousness as academics, Medda says that SFL is designed to function much like a school. The academy follows a structured, curriculum-driven coaching model with mandatory attendance, periodic assessments, and report cards – aimed at delivering “professional training rather than just recreational play”.
According to Medda, SFL’s technology stack is built around two pillars. The first is an academy management SaaS platform that handles operational functions such as scheduling, attendance, and fee collection. This is complemented by a parent-facing app that allows families to track progress, access session videos, and communicate directly with coaches.
The second pillar focuses on tournament technology. “This offers professional-grade features such as live streaming, instant replays, and computer vision AI-driven stats. This system tracks 10-15 key performance metrics per player, generating data-driven analytics comparable to those used by national-level teams to refine talent,” he explains.
Beyond this, SFL is developing in-house technology to further extend coaching access. This includes automated tools designed to replicate a coach’s decision-making logic and provide feedback when coaches are unavailable, and AI-powered virtual coaching modules for remote learners.
The startup is also preparing to launch a scouting and engagement platform inspired by industry-leading sports performance analysis platform Hudl, enabling young athletes to create profiles, store performance highlights, and showcase talent for professional scouting opportunities.
Currently, SFL charges its 1,500 academy students an annual fee of Rs 50,000-60,000. In addition, around 3,000 students participate annually in SFL-organised tournaments.
Scaling a business in this sector
Medda views the youth sports ecosystem as a long-term, high-growth opportunity, likening its current stage to India’s physical fitness industry a decade ago, before platforms like Cult.fit professionalised the space. He believes the market could expand exponentially, potentially touching $5 billion within the next five to six years despite its present fragmented state.
“Many existing academies focus on a single sport rather than operating a multi-sport platform. Some players specialise only in coaching, others in sports science or in-school programmes. While parents are increasingly comfortable with technology in education, its application in sports coaching remains low,” he says.
That fragmentation is exactly where SFL aims to position itself. The startup plans to expand into 30 cities, densify local catchments so centres are within a 3-km radius of homes, and scale its offerings to 15-17 sports.
SFL recently raised $2.58 million in a Series A round led by Fireside Ventures and Genesia Ventures. The capital is being deployed towards building and retaining a pipeline of world-class coaches alongside continued investments in its technology stack.
Currently clocking an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of Rs 12 crore, the startup is targeting Rs 40-50 crore by March 2027. “Given the pace at which we are scaling, geographically and technologically, we expect to reach that mark by the end of FY26. Hopefully, by then, we will have built the national brand we set out to create,” Medda says.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti