Cancer survivor Indian cricket icon Yuvraj Singh sets up YouWeCan Ventures to back startups

He was the player of the tournament in the 2011 Cricket World Cup which India won. He is the highest paid cricketer in the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicking off today. He survived cancer after treatment in the US in 2012 to come back and play for India again.

Yuvraj Singh wrote about his battle with cancer in a memoir titled In Different Form:

My life is full of words beginning with C. I was born in Chandigarh, I became a cricketer, and through my decade as an international cricketer all I craved, along with the rest of the India team, was the Cup…This story, though, is about the new C in my life. It is the story of my cancer.

And now the inspiring saga of this swashbuckling cricketer popularly known as Yuvi by millions of fans in India has just added another C to his resume – a VC, that is.

Yuvraj Singh has set up a venture capital firm called YouWeCan Ventures to back Indian startups. He has former PricewaterhouseCoopers financial consultant Nishant Singhal as the co-founder and chief investment officer in the fund.

The cricket icon actually started YouWeCan as a non-profit foundation a couple of years ago to support cancer survivors like himself. Now he feels the Yuvi brand can play a larger role in empowering the growing band of young entrepreneurs in India. In a pre-IPL interview with MoneyControl, Singh explains what motivated him to launch a VC fund: “It takes time to understand what to do with the money you earn with a lot of sweat on the field. Senior players do talk to the youngsters to invest in the best possible place and not to spoil their money. So, this [YouWeCan Ventures] is one opportunity to put the money in the right place.”

He said his fund already has a few companies in its shortlist for investment. “All the sectors are important, hospitality food. For me healthcare is the most important thing. People have started to take their health very seriously. Because of my experience, this is one area I would really like to concentrate on. So, lot of opportunities over there.”

YouWeCan will play the roles of a seed capital fund, technology and financial advisory as well as a branding and marketing platform for startups. Yuvraj Singh would be investing about US$7-8 million of his own money into it and raise another US$48 million from other investors in three to five years.

The cricketer has a massive fan following in India, and the fund intends to use it to help the startups picked for its portfolio. “If you have an idea and the capability to bootstrap your idea, Yuvraj Singh is with you with all he has – brand, marketing strength, technology team and financial consulting. Yuvraj will endorse your business idea and give you the kick-start you need,” it promises.

The connection between startups and cricket has been growing stronger, because the mass appeal of the game makes it a great marketing platform . This is evident from startups sponsoring teams in the Indian Premier League this year. But YouWeCan Ventures is breaking new ground altogether – it’s the first VC fund by a cricketer in India. Cricketers have launched a number of businesses, and Robin Uthappa even has a food startup called iTiffin, but Yuvi is first to foray into venture capital.