Sports community platform Rooter raises $1.7 mn led by Paytm, leAD Sports and others

New Delhi: Sports community platform Rooter on Monday said it has raised $1.7 million (about Rs 13 crore) in funding from Paytm, leAD Sports, Rockstud Capital and Founder Bank Capital. Anthill Ventures, Venture Catalysts, and a few more current angel investors also participated in the pre-series A round, Rooter said in a statement. Rooter is also entering into a strategic partnership with Paytm First Games, where both companies will collaborate to grow the ecosystem of cricket, fantasy sports, e-sports and gaming creating seamless integration across gaming and content, it added. [caption id=“attachment_4292949” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News 18.[/caption] “The fresh round of funding will be used to grow Rooter’’s user base over the next one year and capitalising on the company’s upcoming e-sports and gaming content and communities. This will add a new dimension to the unique positioning of Rooter which already has a very high engagement around its sports content,” the statement said. The new content strategy will also allow Rooter to launch user monetisation channels, in addition to current advertising monetisation, it added. Rooter was founded by Piyush and Dipesh Agarwal in 2016 to connect fans with each other, and build a community. The platform was largely built around live sports gaming during its early days before it pivoted to content in 2019. Currently, it comprises sports content developed by users and professionals with a user base of more than 8 million. Rooter was selected by leAD Sports Accelerator (an Adidas Family backed Fund) and later secured its first funding from the entity in 2019. Rooter has raised over a million dollars in funding so far through Venture Catalysts, Bollywood actor Boman Irani, Anthill ventures, and other marquee investors. “We started Rooter with the objective of creating a sports fan community and we are glad our pivot to content has found a strong product-market fit. Our engagement metrics and user growth have been excellent in the last two quarters,” Piyush, Founder and CEO of Rooter, said.