Marrying their love for sports with their expertise in mobile app development, Arslan’s team developed the Cricket Companion, which propelled them into the big league in the world of digital sports. Their software received 1 billion hits, 300 million downloads and a valuation of US$50 million during IPL cricket season of 2011.
Azhar Rizvi:
Arslan’s story is an example of a Pakistani company that developed a great service, got billions of hits and millions of downloads; Yet, it failed to reach its potential because of the absence of a funding vehicle for startups. I believe that if he were in Silicon Valley and had created a similar product for the NBA or Major League Baseball, the firm would have been a Unicorn – a billion dollar firm. I recommend that investment firms and ecosystem players study his story carefully. My role has been to help Arslan’s company in formulating a broader vision for their future. We also worked on monetising their efforts and adding new product lines.
Arslan has displayed grit and willpower, as he has battled and overcome cancer to renew his commitment to his dreams. I respect him for his courage and determination. Individuals like him are role models for our youth to follow, not just for their career, but also for their social service. This is one area that has not been highlighted in the story, but I have worked with him quite closely and have seen his efforts to improve the livelihood of common farmers around his area.
Arslan’s Story
The CEO of Cricket Companion and Tricast Media, Arslan Khakwani was born and raised in the rural outskirts of Multan and earned a degree in Computer Science (CS) from Lahore. His CS qualifications proved to be significant in his life, as they led to his co-founding Tricast Media, a mobile app development company.
Marrying their love for sports with their expertise in mobile app development, Arslan’s team developed the Cricket Companion, a digital ecosystem that served cricket fans all over the world. With the Cricket Companion, Arslan and his team were propelled into the big league. The extent of his success can be gauged from the following facts and factoids:
At the height of its popularity during the IPL season, the Cricket Companion app was downloaded almost 100,000 times a day. There were 23 million downloads during an IPL season. The Cricket Companion app and site have been used in 109 countries. During IPL season, the Cricket Companion site received 1.2 billion hits in a span of 42 days.
The Cricket Companion established partnerships with a number of leagues and cricket boards as the scoreboard of choice, including the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL), the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the West Indies Cricket Board, as well as the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In 2011, an investment group tentatively valued Tricast Media at US$50 million. Arslan Khakwani now wants to generalize his learning from the cricket ecosystem into other sports.
Read about Cricket Companions Growth in Entrepreneuring Pakistan
