Football stars and investors Adam Lallana and James Milner
Upgame, an app developed in India by Delhi based Bensaw Technologies and its founder, former amateur tour player Sameer Sawhney, has attracted an undisclosed amount as investment from Liverpool midfielder James Milner and his former teammate Adam Lallana.
In recent times, the app has registered a 30X growth in its monthly revenues since January this year, and has successfully retained over 85% of its users as it expands across geographies.
Other investors in Upgame include Danny Conway, the San Francisco-based ex Facebook, Andreesen Horowitz, tech entrepreneur and philanthropist; Dr Pawan Munjal, Chairman & CEO of Hero MotoCorp, one of India’s renowned corporate leaders and RN Sports Management.
The sports performance app currently specialises in golf and helps players analyse their game and get a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Its map-based interface and unique metrics, that are shareable between player and coach via the app itself, have led to a 790% increase in data collection from users.
Speaking about the funding, Sameer Sawhney Founder & CEO, Upgame said: “Both James and Adam are legends of the game who have great understanding of what it takes to perform at the highest level and the important role stats play in any sport. We’re thrilled to have two of the world’s most famous athletes join us on our journey. The travel restrictions posed due to the pandemic meant that our entire team was able to double down on the product to become the preferred data intelligence and practice tracking platform for golfers in every market we have entered so far.
Sameer Sawhney, Founder & CEO, Upgame
“This funding will be used to develop the product further by adding more sports and related metrics, and help us market the app to a wider audience. We are looking forward to applying our learnings from golf to other sports and be at the forefront of knowledge and performance enhancement in the burgeoning sports technology industry.”
Commenting on the investment, James Milner, Liverpool midfielder and founder of White Rose Sports Management, said: “From the moment we discussed the ethos of White Rose Sports Management, we wanted performance to be at the heart of everything we did, and this aspect was very apparent in the Upgame team in our initial interactions.
We love their vision of bringing performance improvement to athletes around the world, the team’s intense focus, quick execution and deep insights on their users. We are delighted to be a part of their journey.”
Over the past couple of years, nearly 2 million rounds have been logged in on the UpGames app. Some of the prestigious National Federations using Upgame include Golf Australia, Norwegian Golf Federation, Singapore Golf Association, Hong Kong Golf Association, Sports Authority of Thailand and Finnish Golf Union. Various PGA, LPGA, European Tour, as well as major champions and leading NCAA US college teams are also key users of UpGame.
The app adds to the legacy of Indian companies that are expanding in the global market.