Kunal Kanwar

Cricket is nothing short of being a religion in the country. And it is always amazing when patrons come forward to do something which would help promote the sport in the country. That is how Kunal’s startup TUG Sports came into being. A hotelier by profession, this is his second run in the entrepreneurial arena after a successful two-year stint running a hospitality business. Sports is something that has always remained close to his heart. He was brought up in an army household, his father, Brig. I.K. Kanwar SM, who received multiple medals for his service to the country served the Indian army for three decades and was a highly decorated aviator. His father-in-law, Mr. Syed Kirmani, represented the Indian cricket team from 1976 - 86, and was a part of the squad that won the World Cup in 1983.

Sports have always been an integral part of Kunal’s life, and it still is. Not only cricket, he also takes active interest in golf and other sports as well. One could argue that being a kickass entrepreneur was always in his DNA, and his education and professional career speaks for itself. He graduated as a Bachelor of Hotel Management, from WGHSA, Manipal in the year 2004, after which he worked at premier ITC Hotels for over a decade. Shortly thereafter, he shifted his focus to the events industry where he had a fruitful four year stint before turning into a full-time entrepreneur with his first venture in hospitality two years ago.

Being his second startup, his inspiration stemmed from his love and passion for sports, wanting to deliver a more efficient way to help people come outside and play together, which also promotes a more active and healthier lifestyle. A very simple but real problem in the amateur sporting world led to the birth of his idea. He felt there was a wide gap between the number of people who wanted to play at an outdoor sporting facility and the number of players that were needed by established sports facilities to have better occupancy. And with that Kunal set out on his journey to bridge that gap.

TUG Sports launched its first module called the TUG Counter, that very simply aids sporting facilities in three key areas: web presence, a real-time booking calendar and a payment gateway, all of which were previously non-existent in the amateur circuit. The setup process of the module is what makes it stand out, and does not take more than 30 seconds, thanks to the exceptional ease of use performance of FavcyOS on which it is built. TUG Counter has also been designed to cut across sports and facilities which makes it an ideal gateway for expansion to other sports as well.