The programme, housed at IIM Lucknow's incubation centre, will assist early stage ventures working throughout sports activities know-how, gaming, esports and new age media. It'll mix tutorial analysis with enterprise mentorship, fundraising assist and business partnerships.
LegaXy will contribute experience in athlete administration, sports activities branding and content material creation, whereas IIM Lucknow EIC will provide entrepreneurship assist and investor entry.
A curated cohort of ten startups will kind the primary batch. Functions open within the first quarter of 2026 following a nationwide name for proposals and analysis by a joint panel.
“The sport is altering, each on and off the sector. Initiatives like this accelerator will gasoline innovation, serving to startups remodel sports activities, gaming, and fan experiences whereas positioning India as a worldwide chief in sportainment,” mentioned Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Mohammed Sirajuddin, founding advisor at LegaXy, mentioned sports activities and gaming at the moment are greater than $300 billion industries. “For India to assert 5% of that market, we should spend money on structured accelerators – that assist with funding, mentoring & scaling the subsequent wave of World class Sportstech/eSports/Gaming Ventures from India to the world.”Yamini Bhushan Pandey, managing director and CEO of IIM Lucknow EIC, mentioned the collaboration goals to empower startups on the intersection of sports activities, know-how and new-age media and assist them scale globally. “At IIML-EIC, we stay dedicated to nurturing future-ready ventures that drive sustainable affect and contribute to India's rising innovation narrative.”Amitesh Shah, founder and CEO of LegaXy, mentioned the partnership brings collectively academia, entrepreneurship and sporting excellence to construct an ecosystem that accelerates sportstech and gaming innovation.
India's gaming market has grown at greater than 20% yearly over the past 5 years and is projected to succeed in about Rs 66,000 crore by 2028. Esports alone is predicted to develop at 25% a 12 months as digital adoption deepens.
