Huddle: Analyzing a Two-Sided Sports Venue Marketplace

Harshit led the foundational analysis for the Huddle deal. Huddle is a sports venue platform with two distinct business lines: a marketplace where users book third-party venues and Huddle takes a commission, and a managed-venue model where Huddle directly operates the spaces and controls the customer experience.

He built the first-pass investment memo covering market landscape, competitive analysis, and exit scenario modeling. A key part of the analysis was understanding the sports participation trend in India, particularly for newer sports like pickleball and padel, and whether the growth trajectory justified the platform's valuation.

He dug into the retention and engagement metrics in detail: daily, weekly, monthly, and annual active users, booking frequency per user, and renewal rates. The goal was to understand whether users were returning to Huddle habitually or treating it as a one-time booking tool. He also assessed how the two business models interacted and what the unit economics looked like across each.

Harshit also noted that Ajinkya Rane, a prominent sports figure, held a small equity stake in Huddle and was involved as a brand advisor. This was treated as a positive signal on the platform's credibility within the sports community.

Huddle was part of the firm's existing portfolio, so the team had visibility into its growth trajectory. At the time of analysis, Huddle had reached 25 crores-plus ARR, with a GTV of over 200 crores. His seniors reviewed and stress-tested his foundational analysis before the team moved forward.