West Indies Cricketer Chris Gayle Invests In AR Startup FlippAR

Known as the most destructive batsman ever, Chris Gayle made a comeback to One Day International (ODI) cricket after a 931 days sabbatical. Along with a grand return to cricket, Gayle has also made a grand entry into the startup ecosystem. The international cricket star has reportedly picked up a minority stake in Bengaluru based augmented reality startup FlippAR.

The former captain will also be endorsing the company along with being a minority stakeholder, although the amount invested by the cricketer has not been revealed. FlippAR was founded by Vivek Jain in January 2016 which provides augmented reality development services to various companies. The app allows users to unlock stories from buildings, monuments and statues from the most popular tourist destinations in Bengaluru such as Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park and MG Road. The company, run by Movingup Products Pvt., Ltd., has a subscription based revenue model which competes with London based visual discovery app Blippar.

The startup, accelerated by the France based program NUMA, was one of the eight startups selected by the Karnataka Government to receive a grant of Rs. 5 lakhs in March. The six employees team currently works for customers in the 16 to 24 age bracket. Gayle will be featuring in a couple of new campaigns that are to be launched soon.

Serial entrepreneur and founder Vivek Jain is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate with over 13 years of experience in the information technology sector. He was also the CEO of the services outsourcing startup StrApp Business Solutions Pvt., Ltd.

This marks the second investment by Chris Gayle in the Indian startup ecosystem. He previously invested in the virtual gaming firm IONA Entertainment also based in Bengaluru, two months ago. Indian startup ecosystem has garnered a lot of interest from multiple Indian cricketers as well. Yuvraj Singh has been actively participating in the startup ecosystem through his investment fund YouWeCan Ventures. Former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly has also invested in Mumbai based video content discovery platform Flickstree.