Deployed around ₹100 cr in two seasons of Ultimate Kho Kho League, says CEO

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₹100 crore between the first and second seasons, Tenzing Niyogi, CEO of the league told Mint. The league is now gearing up for its second season, scheduled to commence this December in Odisha. Last week, Kho Kho Sports League Private Limited, the company behind UKK, successfully concluded a Series A funding round, raising an undisclosed amount from FinNest Sport, a UK-based entity owned by Biswanath Patnaik’s BNP Venture Capital Limited.

This marks the first time any sports league in India has secured private equity funding. Additionally, the league’s franchisees have subsequently invested ₹3.9 crore in its player pool, comprising athletes from 18 states. The groundwork for building the sports business was laid in 2018.

Burman had committed and underwritten an investment of ₹200 crore to be deployed over a five-year period, with the aim of developing the sport’s grassroots, marketing, and television production. “The incoming private equity funds will help us enhance our valuation and assist us in reimagining the game at the global level. This sport is played by 33 nations, and that’s where the opportunity lies.

Our spending on building up the league is only going to increase due to the nature of production," Niyogi said. Keeping both these investments in mind, Niyogi anticipates profitability to materialize within the fourth year of operations. The inaugural season of the game featured six teams competing at the Badminton Hall within the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.

According to BARC data shared by the league, the majority of TV viewers (approximately 19%) belonged to the 2-14 age group. The second-highest viewership segment was the 15-21-year-olds, accounting for 17% of the total viewership. During its