CricHQ Ltd has secured up to US$10 million funding from Singapore-based private equity firm Tembusu Partners Pte Ltd to enhance its cricket digital platform and grow its global operations.
The Wellington-headuqartered CricHQ is set to revolutionize cricket globally covering three billion fans, 320 million online fans and 26 million cricketers that plays 10 million matches per annum.
Speaking to reporters after securing the funding, CricHQ chief executive Simon Baker said the global expansion will start with India, which accounts for 50 per cent of cricket’s 3250 million online fans.
“If not the home, India is the heart of cricket,” he said, announcing new appointments will be made in the coming weeks to expand CricHQ expansion India, United Kingdom, South Africa and Pakistan.
In India, CricHQ will also expand its development, sales and marketing capabilities, showing further commitment to cricket’s biggest market. Manpower at CricHQ’s Cochin office will be doubled to 80 in the coming year and gradually expanded to cover other parts of India.
He pointed out that 41 of 106 national governing bodies for cricket have partnered with CricHQ to improve administration of the game in their jurisdictions from club level upwards. These include a partnership with the Kerala Cricket Association.
Cricket administration previously consisted of paper-based, time-intensive methods of data collection.
“CricHQ aims to accomplish its mission of ‘Making Cricket Better’ for cricket stakeholders through its digital platform which combines an integrated competition management, live scoring and Customer Relationship Management to solve the problem of data loss,” he said.
Its crowd-sourced and independently-validated data collection process allows fans to receive the benefit of the biggest and broadest range of cricket in the world thanks to CricHQ, unlocking the value of cricket that was previously unaccessible.
With Tembusu Partner’s investment, CricHQ will upgrade its platform to better serve clients and stakeholders, release exciting features for fans, expand geographically and attract talent.
Baker said: “Tembusu’s investment enables CricHQ to expand significantly and achieve our growth targets. An institutional investment of this significance, and the support of shareholders and clients such as New Zealand Cricket, validates our global business strategy. CricHQ will benefit from Tembusu’s experience and network in Asia, and is based in Singapore – the ideal gateway to our key markets.”
Commenting on the funding, Tembusu Partners founder and chairman Andy Lim said: “Tembusu believes that CricHQ’s business model is highly scalable and has a huge opportunity to become the world’s leading online repository of cricket information. We are proud to partner CricHQ in its exciting growth journey.”
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