Hudle (Hsquare Sports Private Limited) is a New Delhi-based sports platform that lets people discover and book sports venues and activities.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Hudle does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Hudle in Brief

• What it is: Hudle is an Indian Sports tech / venue booking company based in New Delhi.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Lets sports enthusiasts find and book sports facilities and activities
• Has expanded into organising activities
• Serves players, venue owners, schools and private clubs
• Funding: About USD 4.34 million across four rounds (aggregators).

Hudle Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Hudle?

Hudle operates in the Sports tech / venue booking space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Hudle.

• Lets sports enthusiasts find and book sports facilities and activities
• Has expanded into organising activities
• Serves players, venue owners, schools and private clubs
• Offers facility management tools to venues

The Origin Story of Hudle

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Suhail Narain, Arjun Singh Verma, Sonam Taneja.
• Founded by Suhail Narain, Arjun Singh Verma and Sonam Taneja; most sources say 2015, while the app launch is dated 2018 in some sources and one source says the company was created in 2018
• Started by simplifying the process of finding and booking sports facilities
• Headquartered in New Delhi with offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru per one directory

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Sports tech / venue booking sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2015: founded (reports differ; 2018 in some sources)
• December 2020: seed round led by Survam Partners per one aggregator
• July 2022: USD 1 million Series A tranche led by Inflection Point Ventures, with Survam Partners and Indian Angel Network
• July 2025: USD 2.5 million round, Physis Capital named as lead by one aggregator

Hudle Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• December 2020: seed, led by Survam Partners (aggregator)
• July 2022: about USD 1 million, Inflection Point Ventures lead, Survam Partners and Indian Angel Network
• April 2024: round of about USD 839K reported by one aggregator; amounts differ between sources
• July 2025: about USD 2.5 million Series A extension, Physis Capital, Sky Impact Capital, Atrium Ventures and angels listed by one aggregator

How Does Hudle Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Mobile app marketplace for sports venues and activities
• Revenue model not described in the sources read

The Numbers: Hudle Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY23: revenue Rs 5.7 crore
• FY24: revenue Rs 8.6 crore, up 49.6%; net loss Rs 2.9 crore; estimated EBITDA minus Rs 5.1 crore
• FY25: not found (a page snippet shows figures in lakhs that appear inconsistent)

Market Opportunity for Hudle

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Competes with other venue-booking apps such as Playo and KheloMore

Technology and Product at Hudle

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Mobile app and booking platform with facility management tools

Team and Culture at Hudle

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Suhail Narain is CEO
• Employee count listed as 189 by one aggregator

Hudle Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Hudle

• Net loss and negative EBITDA in FY24
• Small total funding versus competitors' ambitions
• Crowded venue-booking market
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Hudle Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Used fresh capital in 2025 to continue growth; no detailed plans were read
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Hudle can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Hudle Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Hudle

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Hudle.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Hudle

Studying a company in the Sports tech / venue booking space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Hudle.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Hudle as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Hudle name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Hudle is part of India’s growing Sports tech / venue booking ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Hudle FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Hudle?

Hudle (Hsquare Sports Private Limited) is a New Delhi-based sports platform that lets people discover and book sports venues and activities. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Hudle?

Hudle was founded by Suhail Narain, Arjun Singh Verma, Sonam Taneja, and the company reports a founding year of 2015.

How much funding has Hudle raised?

About USD 4.34 million across four rounds (aggregators). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Hudle make money?

Hudle earns revenue from its Sports tech / venue booking products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Hudle?

Reported rivals include Booksports, Playsports, Sporthood. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Hudle?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.