What’s better for a startup than a little stardust? More stardust. And that is exactly happened for Virat Kohli backed Sport Convo on Wednesday when Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale announced his support for the venture.
A social platform especially geared to suit the sports fan, Sport Convo is a London-based tech startup for which Indian Test Captain Virat Kohli was announced as an investor and brand ambassador in November 2014.
True to its name, the startup facilitates connections and interactions between sports enthusiasts and allows users to stay abreast of the latest news about their favourite games.
Kohli took quite an innovative approach to making the announcement on Twitter, vaguely stating, “I’ve just had an interesting convo” which made his Twitteratti following burst into speculation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’ve just had an interesting convo.</p>— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) <a href="https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/674430749882376192">December 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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A few hours later he follows it up with another tweet which stated that someone would be backing Sport Convo.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Viratians someone special has joined me in backing my venture <a href="https://twitter.com/sportconvo">@sportconvo</a> Guess who it is? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetsConvo?src=hash">#LetsConvo</a> Here's a clue <a href="https://t.co/1frYHqvYxy">pic.twitter.com/1frYHqvYxy</a></p>— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) <a href="https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/674461053787480064">December 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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After one more tweet and a lot more speculation, Kohli finally tweeted,
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Guys its been a fun day! I would like you all to welcome <a href="https://twitter.com/GarethBale11">@GarethBale11</a> to the <a href="https://twitter.com/sportconvo">@sportconvo</a> family! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetsConvo?src=hash">#LetsConvo</a> <a href="https://t.co/FOeXbf9wtT">pic.twitter.com/FOeXbf9wtT</a></p>— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) <a href="https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/674536556582068224">December 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Sport Convo is Kohli’s second business venture after backing FC Goa in the Indian Super League.
What is apparent is that more and more celebrities are investing in startups and other ventures. However, this phenomenon is nothing new but the prominence and style of publicity that celebrities are able to drum up is much more effective and prominent now.
“Celebrities see that there is a lot of hype and a lot of opportunity in the startup space today. It probably also has to do with looking at a post-celebrity career. A lot of people have done it in the past too, even while the environment was more hostile,” says Dr. Raghunandan Rajamani, Executive Director, Indian STEPs and Business Incubators Association.
“It’s a good fit too. Celebrities have a good understanding of brand management because of their endorsements, and also of the importance of publicity in taking the venture forward,” he adds.
BW Reporters
Simar Singh is one of the youngest members of the BW team. A fresh graduate from IIMC, she also holds a degree in political science from LSR. She enjoys covering power, startups, lifestyle and a little bit of tech.
