BharatPe, a lending and digital payments firm, said on Monday that it has signed a three-year partnership with the International Cricket Council to become an official partner (ICC). BharatPe will promote the partnership across broadcast and digital channels, as well as execute in-venue marketing activations at all ICC tournaments till 2023, according to the deal.
The ICC World Test Championship (Southampton, UK, 2021), Men’s T20 World Cup (India, 2021), Men’s T20 World Cup (Australia, 2022), Women’s World Cup (New Zealand, 2022), U19 Cricket World Cup (West Indies, 2022), Women’s T20 World Cup (South Africa, 2022), Men’s Cricket World Cup (South Africa, 2022), Men’s Cricket World Cup (India, 2023), and World Test Championship (India (2023).
This relationship will allow BharatPe to roll out campaigns to interact with cricket fans and shop owners around the country, in addition to having an integrated brand presence at a number of ICC events.
“We believe cricket is one of the most powerful unifiers, across continents and languages. “Through this partnership, we will be able to strengthen our relationships with existing merchants while also engaging better with millions of new, small merchants across India,” said Ashneer Grover, co-founder and CEO of BharatPe.
The ICC collaboration, according to BharatPe, is an organic extension of the company’s existing cricket-centered brand strategy. Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Shubhman Gill are among the company’s 11 brand ambassadors.
“We give companies with a high-reach platform for dialogues with engaged fans at our women’s and men’s events. “With five senior level World Cups taking place between 2021 and 2023, the ICC will be able to reach out to an unprecedented number of cricket fans,” said Anurag Dahiya, chief commercial officer of the ICC.
Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani co-founded BharatPe in 2018, which claims to have over 60 lakh merchants across 100 locations. Since its start, the company has disbursed over 1,600 crore in loans to its merchants, and its point of sale (PoS) business handles over 1,200 crore in monthly payments. Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo, and Sequoia Capital were among the investors who contributed about $300 million in stock and loans to the firm.