From Playing for Fun to Playing for Life: How Hudle Is Changing India's Sports Culture

In a country where cricket has long dominated the sporting spotlight, something unexpected is taking root across neighbourhoods, tech parks, and community clubs and it’s not just about cricket anymore.

Imagine booking a game of pickleball or padel as easily as ordering your evening coffee or finding a ride home. That’s the vision powering Hudle, a Delhi-based startup quietly revolutionizing recreational sports in India. And with a fresh $2.5 million Series A fundraise, Hudle is now gearing up to go national, bigger, smarter, and more inclusive.

Hudle Funding

Hudle’s latest funding round was led by Sky Impact Capital, with participation from Physis Capital, Atrium Venture, and a mix of sports and entrepreneurial heavyweights including Mahesh Bhupathi, Gaurav Kapur, and the founders of Blue Tokai and Nitro Commerce. This isn’t just financial support; it's a signal that recreational sports in India are finally being recognized as a serious business and a powerful wellness movement.

With the funds, Hudle plans to double down on product innovation, user experience, and expand its presence across Tier 1, 2, and even Tier 3 cities, bringing community sports within reach for millions more.

Building India’s First Sports Rating System

In a major product milestone, Hudle will launch GRIP (Game Rating Index for Players) this August - India’s first-ever player rating and scoring system for sports like pickleball, padel, and badminton.

Think of it as a “Fitbit for sports skills”, helping players track their performance, match with others at the same skill level, and get better over time. It’s not just about playing more; it’s about playing better, with purpose and progression.

3X Growth, 1.5 Lakh+ Games a Month, and Counting

The numbers tell a compelling story. Over the past 12 months, Hudle has:

• Grown 3x in user activity

• Recorded over 1.5 lakh games per month

• Set a goal to hit 3 million games by the end of the fiscal year

• Become India’s largest platform for emerging sports like pickleball and padel

• Built a network of 2,000+ courts across 60+ cities

Founder and CEO Suhail Narain puts commented, “Playing sports should be as easy and normal as going out for coffee. This fundraise isn’t just about scale — it’s about doubling down on the experience, the tech, and the community.”

With over 300 new pickleball courts being added each month, Hudle is not just creating digital engagement — it’s building real-world sports infrastructure at scale.

Why Investors Are Betting Big on Sports Tech

India’s fitness economy is booming, with wellness spending crossing $98 billion and 300 million people affected by lifestyle diseases. In this context, Hudle’s offering — a tech-led, community-driven platform to help people stay fit and social — hits the sweet spot.

Aakash Sachdev, Managing Partner at Sky Impact Capital, notes, “Hudle is rewiring India’s recreational sports economy… This round will fund the next wave of player engagement and nationwide venue expansion, ensuring no player is left behind.”

Vinay Bansal from Physis Capital adds, “Hudle is bridging the gap in India’s fragmented sports ecosystem. It’s not just about booking games — it’s about enabling a healthy lifestyle.”

Founded by Suhail Narain, Arjun Singh Verma, and Sonam Taneja, Hudle is not just a tech company — it’s a mission-led movement. The team envisions connecting 100 million Indians to sports, not just for competition but for community, consistency, and well-being.

With backgrounds in business, tech, and community engagement, the trio has built Hudle as a “social sports utility” — one that empowers local courts, enables players, and digitizes everything in between.

Hudle is often described as “the Zomato for sports” — helping users find and book courts. But it’s more than that. Through a full-stack experience — including discovery, performance tracking, matchmaking, and community events — Hudle is redefining what sports mean to urban Indians.

The platform supports a wide range of sports, including badminton, padel, football, box cricket, and pickleball. Its intuitive app and user-first design make playing a game as simple as sending a text or making a dinner reservation.

India’s growing obsession with fitness, coupled with its rising tech-savvy population, makes it the perfect ground for a sports-tech revolution. Hudle’s timing couldn’t be better.

As work-life boundaries blur and health takes centre stage, Hudle is betting that Indians won’t just want to play more — they’ll need to. And when they do, Hudle wants to be the default platform to make that happen.

From cities to suburbs, badminton to padel — Hudle is rallying India to play again. And this time, it’s not just a game. It’s a movement.