Cricketer KL Rahul has invested in PlayBlue, a Bengaluru-based multi-brand sports retail startup, and will also serve as its brand ambassador.
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The deal comes as PlayBlue opens its first flagship store, a 20,000 sq ft space on 80 Feet Road in Koramangala, Bengaluru.
“What I like about PlayBlue is its vision of making quality sports products more accessible while building a stronger sporting culture,” KL Rahul said.
“We’re building the store we wanted to walk into ourselves. Having KL Rahul on board as both an investor and our ambassador gives us a partner who knows what the right gear means to someone who plays,” said Jayam Vora, co-founder of PlayBlue.
The flagship store is spread across three retail floors, a café level and a rooftop terrace. It stocks more than 75 sports and lifestyle brands across apparel, footwear, equipment, accessories, recovery products and sports nutrition, for both amateur and professional athletes.
PlayBlue is pitching the store around testing products before buying them. Customers can get a gait analysis, try running shoes on a treadmill and use sensors to assess cricket bats. The store also offers racquet stringing, cricket bat knocking and bicycle servicing.
The rooftop, called The Playground, has a pickleball court, a one-on-one futsal turf and a cricket net with a bowling machine. The company plans to host community classes, recovery sessions and sports club events there. The café and nutrition space is called Play Cafe x Kenko.
The app, launched alongside the store, offers same-day delivery within Bengaluru and two-day delivery across the rest of India.
“India has world-class athletes and a fast-growing base of serious amateurs, but buying sport here hasn’t kept up with them,” Vora said.
Founded in 2025 by Satyam Trivedi and Jayam Vora, PlayBlue brings together the expertise of its co-founders. Trivedi has over 20 years of experience in the sports industry, having served as CEO of GMR Sports and held leadership positions managing properties across the IPL, WPL and Pro Kabaddi League.
Vora is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded fitness startup Fitternity, which Curefit acquired in 2021, and later worked on scaling Cult.fit and Gold’s Gym India.
“India is moving from a nation that watches sport to one that plays it,” Trivedi said when the startup announced its funding.
Funding and expansion plans
In July, PlayBlue raised $2.7 million (about Rs 25.7 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by Centre Court Capital and MIXI Global Investments, with participation from WEH Ventures. The money was earmarked for flagship stores and a pan-India ecommerce platform.
Centre Court Capital is a sports-focused venture capital firm led by former tennis player Mustafa Ghouse. It closed its maiden fund at Rs 410 crore in December 2025, above its Rs 350 crore target. Its backers include Parth Jindal, Neeraj Chopra, Rishabh Pant and GMR Sports, Trivedi’s former employer.
PlayBlue now said it plans to open more than 100 stores across 25 Indian cities over the next five years. At the time of the seed round, it had set a target of more than 150 stores in five years, 10 million users and annual revenue of over Rs 5,000 crore.
The first Bengaluru store has also grown in size. In July the startup had planned a 15,000 sq ft flagship, to be followed by stores in Mumbai and Delhi NCR. In the nearer term, the founders are aiming for Rs 100 crore in revenue and profitability before the company’s next fundraise.
PlayBlue competes with larger retailers such as Decathlon, as well as newer players such as SportsJam, Heelium and Agilitas.
PlayBlue adds to a list of consumer and sports-linked startups that Rahul has backed, often taking on an ambassador role at the same time. The cricketer invested in men’s apparel brand XYXX in April 2022, and in fitness brand Boldfit and mixed reality startup Flam in 2024. Rahul is also an investor and brand ambassador at men’s lifestyle brand Metaman.
Boldfit, which sells athleisure and fitness products, raised about Rs 400 crore from Bharat Value Fund in a Series B round in October to fund retail expansion, product development and manufacturing.
India’s sports market is expected to reach $130 billion by 2030, growing at about 14% a year, according to a report by Deloitte and Google released in November 2024.
Sports goods and apparel, the segment PlayBlue sells into, is the largest growth area in that estimate. The report expects it to double to $58 billion by 2030.
