"I see a huge structural change in sports industry in India" - Gabriel Ghavami, Chief Seed Investor and Chairman of the Board at Spolto

Spolto, a sports tech platform, has picked up a very essential but overlooked job at hand - making the field accessible to everyone. There is a rather large discrepancy between the number of people who are mere viewers and those who indulge by investing their time and money into it.

Obstacles in the form of lack of infrastructure, due to the absence of skilled technicians who can provide the right guidance, have held India back as a prospective sporting super power for a long time now. And this is precisely where Spolto comes into play.

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Spolto's Gabriel Ghavami talks about his role, future plans, strategies, and more

Sportskeeda had an exclusive chat with Gabriel Ghavami, founder and CEO of GO MO Group, and a key investor as well as Chairman of the Board at Spolto. Speaking about his initial approach towards investing via the company and his thoughts while stepping on board, Ghavami said:

"I love businesses where passion, doing good, and money meet. So Spolto was this kind of an opportunity, with a tremendous capability to grow. I also truly believe in investing in projects where there is a paradigm shift. I see a huge structural change in sports industry in India and I would love for Spolto to be a player in that."

Currently, only 1% of Indians take part in any type of sport. However, predictions indicate that by 2025, more than 40 million members of the Indian middle class will participate in sports and leisure activities. Speaking about what he visualizes the company doing in the Indian market, Ghavami said:

"I grew up in Sweden, where I saw that sports were democratized and open for everyone, and seeing India not have the same kind of infrastructure and fundamentals saddens me. But this also gives us an opportunity to provide equal opportunities for everyone across ages."

Speaking about the company’s growth and expansion plans over next few years, Ghavami explained:

"It's very easy to limit yourself. At Spolto, we try not to limit ourselves. We keep an eternity perspective. We see the world as a platform. We start in India where Spolto is the need of the hour. Opening this pandora’s box of talent and letting it out and having them make this platform their own is something I look forward to."

Further, Ghavami spoke about some of the obstacles he believes are holding India back from becoming a major sporting nation and how Spolto can help them resolve them:

"There are 4-5 different target audiences in India. India is not a country, it's a continent, where there are gaps in factors like communication, language, culture, etc. So, we needed to overcome these barriers. So what we had in mind was how to bring them all in a single place and give them access to one thing, that is sport."

Being from Sweden, Ghavami has seen the development of infrastructure and sporting culture there first-hand. Speaking about the kind of takeaways that the company can imbibe from the nation and implement in India, he said:

"Part of democratizing sports is learning from each other. There are people who have been the best in the world for developing youth athletes and who have done this for 10, 50, 100 years, so lets just learn from them. It's not how it is in the West but rather for the first time in history, use the digital platform as an enabler to solve the problems."

Coming on board the company as an investor, he also stepped into the shoes of the Chairman position. Speaking about his role and what he hopes to accomplish in it, he said:

"Talking about my role as a Chairman, my job is to support the rest of board, and provide the best possible management as well as giving it a direction. My job is to support our founder and CEO Safa Soltani to actually execute on our beliefs."

Expanding on what his role would be in terms of attracting future investors, he said:

"When I invest money myself, I ask what will sports be in India in the next five years. Can it be Spolto? Yes. So, I can say Spolto is sports in India. And then I ask myself, why is Spolto profitable? If these two questions can be answered then it is probably investable."

Ghavami spoke at length about how digital media can be the key to solving the accessibility gap that is currently present in India's sporting sector. Speaking about how to channel this medium to maximize the potential of your company, Ghavami said:

"We are a marketing-first company. As a founder and former owner of one of the largest digital marketing firms in Sweden, with offices in Pune, we have an extremely clear idea about the type of digital marketing tactics and methods to use for Spolto."

Speaking about the company’s plans for the coming year in terms of projects and initiatives, Ghavami explained:

"We have launched an alpha phase in Pune and are doing very well there. We are using that data to update the user experience, and are making a 2.0 version for Spolto UX. We are launching in the Mumbai area in Q1 2023. We have a funding round right now to scale in digital marketing."

Spolto has launched doorstep coaching in the city of Pune. There, the company has a hands-on approach towards going to the community, understanding the kids, their parents, the culture, and what kind of sporting platform is needed.

Expressing his hopes for the future, Ghavami mentioned:

"If we can combine together the insights of the grassroot approach as well as the digital marketing processes in our company, I believe we can grow 10X within very few years."

The startup's current objective is to expand into larger geographic areas by forming solid relationships, aided by their pre-seed capital. The firm will be able to develop technologies to enter the market at scale with the help of the current round, and invest in a broad partner network spanning many sports.

Sports as a field is the ultimate unifier, and transcends differences in race, culture, gender, and a multitude of other factors that divide people. This is the key thought that drives a group of young professionals who are behind Spolto's mission to connect everyone involved.