Sportswear company Agilitas Sports, co-founded by ex-Puma India MD Abhishek Ganguly, has bagged funding of ₹100 crore from venture capital firm, Nexus Venture Partners. These funds have been raised at a time when the company is looking to ink licensing deals with international brands and is also in talks to make acquisitions in the sportswear space.

The company had earlier this year raised about ₹430 crore. This includes ₹400 crore from Convergent Finance LLP, an investment management and advisory partnership led by Harsha Raghavan, while ₹30 crore was raised by individual investors.

Abhishek Ganguly, Founder, Agilitas Sports told businessline that fresh fund raise will enable the company to accelerate its scale-up trajectory. “Agilitas Sports will be the holding company which will make large and substantial investments on building different lines of businesses while staying rooted in the sportswear segment. We are following a comprehensive approach addressing the entire value chain with an end-to-end play. This includes developing strong manufacturing capabilities in sports footwear, building strong research and product development capabilities, setting up design labs for new products and building brands.” he added.

In September, Agilitas announced the acquisition of Mochiko Shoes Pvt Ltd, which is the contract manufacturing partner for leading international brands such as Adidas, Puma, New Balance, Skechers, Reebok, Asics, Crocs, Decathlon among others. Ganguly said the company’s investment has helped Mochiko to strengthen capacities leading to a strong growth in the order book and the firm is poised to cross ₹800 crore in revenues this fiscal.

“In terms of the B2C play, we will soon be finalising long-term licensing deals with global brands looking to foray into India. At the same time, we are also in conversations for acquisitions of brands in the sportswear segment. Our strategy is clear that as the overall pie of the sportswear segment grows, we will have multiple brands with definitive differentiated positioning at different price points. The purpose is to strengthen the sports culture in the country and not just cater to professionals but also equip local athletes at the grassroot levels,” he added.

Sports footwear accounts for 16 per cent of the overall footwear market and is the fastest-growing segment. India’s sportswear market is poised to grow at 4x the current size by 2030.

“We at Nexus Venture Partners are very excited about partnering with Agilitas as they revolutionize the sports market with their comprehensive approach. Coupled with the collective operating experience of the co-founders in the Indian sports footwear market, we believe that the team is onto a pathbreaking sports company that is poised for global impact. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world where more Indians are moving towards an active and health-conscious lifestyle. Therefore, we are aligned with the vision of the company of Agilitas for Propelling a Generation through Sports”, said Suvir Sujan, Nexus Venture Partners.

Other co-founders of Agilitas Sports include former senior executives of Puma India-- Atul Bajaj and Amit Prabhu.

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