Rooter.io is a social platform that connects sports fans on a real-time basis and engages them through a variety of features
Rooter Sports Technologies, owner of Rooter.io, a social platform that connects sports fans on a real-time basis, is in advanced talks with multiple investors to raise Series A financing, Founder and CEO Piyush Kumar told e27.
“Rooter is currently in talks with multiple investors to raise Series A round of funding with a view to close by November 2017,” said Kumar. He, however, declined to share details.
“We are looking to incorporate new sport disciplines in our listings and aggressively expand our user base through dedicated marketing efforts. Also, partnering with big franchisees for more merchandising and revenue generation options is an immediate objective,” he added.
The startup previously raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Indian consumer electronic company Intex Technologies. This was preceded by an angel round from Dhruv Chitgopekar, Prantik Dasgupta and Bollywood actor Boman Irani in October last year.
Rooter was founded in 2016 by Kumar and Akshat Goel (Co-founder and CTO).
Based out of Delhi, Rooter connects sports fans around the world and engages them through a live match prediction game. Fans create their rooter profile with teams/players they support and get a ‘passion score’ basis their social media engagement. The live match prediction game engages fans through matches with predictions based on stats and also allows them to interact in ‘live match chat forum’.
“Sports fans are increasingly ending up watching sports alone. No traditional social platform connects sports fans. There is also no live match engagement available across the world. In such a scenario, Rooter has emerged as the world’s only platform to connect sports fans through live match chat forums with live scores, commentary and engaging features such as live match prediction games, quizzes, trivia etc,” Kumar said.
The idea of Rooter struck to Kumar he realised that sports fans hate watching sports alone. Combining this need with the idea of connecting sports fans together on a real-time basis, he eventually conceptualised Rooter.
According to Kumar, other sports platforms available in India such as Fantain (a fan relationship management startup) are based on the format where sports fans pick up their favourite players to make a team. Fantasy games have no connection with live sports, doesn’t get users to create profile, or offer chats for fans to interact. It’s a pure pick-and-choose based game, which is only relevant before the match starts. And most of the fantasy platforms are limited to cricket and football being played by serious fans.
Rooter Co-founders Piyush Kumar and Akshat Goel
“Rooter, on the other hand, allows users to create their sports profile like other social networks, connect with other fans, and play prediction game during live games across seven sport disciplines. It also allows live match chatting with thousands of fans, provides detailed live scores, stats and commentary, along with match and sport event specific quizzes and articles for each match. It thus provides 360-degree sports experience for any fan looking for a one-stop destination for complete sporting information,” claims Kumar.
For sports franchisees, Rooter provides an instant medium to connect with the fans on the digital domain and maintain their fan engagement quotient. It helps to get a direct feedback regarding the fan’s thoughts, provides data of fan’s engagement for each and every match and also helps in merchandising and other revenue-generating opportunities.
What is live match prediction?
Under this feature, users can compete with each other and predict the outcome of a match before and even during the time it is happening. It also allows users to pick cards describing particular situations that may happen during the game. These cards are to be picked for each session, half, set or round, as per the specific game. Each situation is assigned with a specific set of coins.
Once the scenario in the card picked by the user actually happens, for instance, a goal scored by a particular player, the user wins those number of coins. At the end of the match, users with the highest number of coins make the leaderboard and get exciting prizes.
All the users playing prediction game also interact in live match forum leading to intense and entertaining discussion on sports and an interaction among unknown people who have only their love for sports in common!
Rooter currently caters to seven sports disciplines — football, cricket, basketball, tennis, kabaddi, Formula One and badminton.
Currently, Rooter claims to have more than 300,000 sports fans on board. The average time spent by a user on app is above 13 mins and 65 per cent are in the range of 18-25 years old.
The company is seeing a massive opportunity in the sports industry, estimated to be US$516 million per year (US$40 million digital), which is growing at a rate of 25 per cent YoY.
Rooter helps a lot of brands to generate leads through the redemption process. It charges a commission from brands on every lead generated from the app. “We are also planning to start a freemium subscription model in the next six to 12 months, where users paying a certain monthly charge will get additional benefits as a fan,” Kumar added.
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