Ten x You raises $6.5M, targets offline expansion in India’s sportswear market
Cricket-focused startup Ten x You, founded in 2024 and majority owned by Sachin Tendulkar, has raised $6.5 million across two rounds. It plans a larger fundraise later this year to finance physical retail expansion and build an India-focused athletic footwear and apparel brand.
What happened
Cricket-focused sportswear startup Ten x You has raised $6.5 million and plans a larger round later this year to fund physical retail expansion, aiming to build
Key facts
- $6.5 million raised across two funding rounds
- 54% stake owned by Sachin Tendulkar
- $6.2 billion Indian athletic footwear market
- 10-month-old startup
- Founded in 2024
Why this matters
Global sportswear and retail groups should view Ten x You as a potential distribution, licensing, or strategic-partnership target as it builds an India-native athletic footwear and apparel platform.
What to watch
- Size, valuation, and investor mix of the planned later-stage fundraise.
- Number, format, and city mix of physical store openings versus franchise or shop-in-shop expansion.
- Evidence of proprietary cricket footwear, protective gear, or technical apparel rather than logo-led merchandise.
- Pricing relative to Puma, Adidas, Nike, Decathlon, Campus, and Indian cricket-equipment brands.
- Sell-through, replenishment rates, return rates, and inventory discounting after initial launches.
- Partnerships with academies, leagues, schools, retailers, or e-commerce marketplaces.
- Whether the brand gains demand from non-cricket consumers, women, and younger lifestyle buyers.
- Launch flagship stores in cricket-heavy metros and tier-1 cities, likely pairing retail with nets, coaching, events, or athlete appearances.
- Use Tendulkar-led campaigns and cricket academies, clubs, schools, and tournaments as customer-acquisition and product-testing channels.
- Build footwear capabilities around cricket-specific use cases before expanding into running, training, athleisure, and youth lifestyle categories.
- Pursue shop-in-shop, franchise, and multi-brand retail distribution to expand physical reach with less capital intensity.
- Raise a larger institutional round tied to store economics, gross-margin proof, and evidence of repeat demand beyond celebrity-led launch interest.
- Prompt incumbent sportswear brands and large Indian retailers to increase cricket-focused launches, athlete partnerships, and localized assortments.