India has long had a strong culture of watching sport. But increasingly, more Indians are choosing to participate in it themselves — running marathons, joining fitness communities and signing up for endurance events. For Rainmatter, the venture fund run by the team behind Zerodha, this shift sits at the intersection of its broader focus on preventive health and its growing interest in participatory sports.
In an exclusive conversation with The Logical Indian, Dilip Kumar, who leads health investments at Rainmatter, spoke about how the fund’s health and fitness thesis led it towards sports, and how its approach has gradually expanded from backing businesses to helping build an ecosystem around participation. The idea, he says, is not necessarily to turn people into elite athletes, but to give them more opportunities to adopt an active lifestyle.
From Fans To Participants
Rainmatter’s interest in sports emerged from its broader focus on health. According to Dilip, the fund began by looking at areas where it could support entrepreneurs working towards preventive health, with sport eventually emerging as one way of encouraging people to stay active.
“When we started investing in health, we started looking at what are the areas where we would like to invest and support entrepreneurs,” Dilip said while speaking to The Logical Indian. “And one thing was very clear to us that we like to support opportunities which allow Indians to stay healthy, which essentially means preventive health.”
He sees sports as a natural extension of that approach. “Sports was a part of that entire spectrum because sports, the way we look at it, is a very organic tool for anyone to start pursuing an active lifestyle,” Dilip explained. “And it could be running and it could be any form of participatory sports.”
For Rainmatter, participation can extend beyond the event itself. Signing up for a race or fitness challenge can give people a reason to train regularly and change other aspects of their lifestyle.
“If you sign up for a marathon, if you sign up for HYROX, you start training for it,” Dilip said. “You show up to the gym regularly. You eat more healthily. You sleep on time. You’re more mindful about your mental health, your stress, your anxiety.”
“You essentially live a very active lifestyle like how a typical athlete would live,” he added.
That philosophy has shaped Rainmatter’s investments across health and fitness, including Yoska, Fitpage, Spectacom and Sisters in Sweat. The common thread is creating more opportunities for people to participate, rather than defining fitness only through elite or competitive sport.
How Yoska Led To HYROX
Rainmatter’s involvement in endurance sports began with Yoska and an encounter that took place during an Ironman relay in 2023. Dilip, Nithin Kamath and colleague Vishnu Sudhakaran participated in the relay, where they met Yoska founder Deepak Raj. “We actually met Yoska’s founder Deepak Raj. And I think in 2023, we were doing an Ironman relay,” Dilip recalled.
The team won their category and met Deepak at the prize distribution. He visited their office the following day, leading to further conversations and eventually an investment in Yoska in mid 2024.
“And, one thing led to another. We liked what we were doing and then we decided to invest in Yoska,” Dilip said. The association later connected Rainmatter to HYROX after Yoska brought the fitness format to India. “Then later on, he brought HYROX to India. And that’s how our association with HYROX happened,” Dilip said.
According to Dilip, the first HYROX event in India, held in Mumbai in May 2025, attracted around 1,600 participants. Around 18 months later, the Mumbai event last week drew approximately 15,000 participants. For Rainmatter, the numbers illustrate the growing appetite for participatory fitness formats.
Fitness As A Social Experience
Dilip believes the pandemic accelerated awareness around health and fitness, but he also points to the social aspect of participation as another factor shaping the way people approach fitness.
“Another is people finding fitness also as an outlet for social experiences,” he said. “You meet different kinds of people, you train with them. There’s a sense of community which is getting built because you show up every morning, you train together, you travel together for a race.”
Social media has added another dimension to this experience. People with regular jobs who may not consider themselves fitness influencers can share their running, gym, marathon or endurance journeys online, creating an identity around participation. “A lot of people may not look chiseled and six-packs, but because they’re training, they’re going to gym, they’re going to HYROX, they’re going to marathon, there is an identity which they can post about themselves on social media,” Dilip said.
Dilip also sees a growing willingness among Indians to pay for experiences that allow them to participate. He points to HYROX as an example, saying the average entry price is around ₹9,000-₹10,000 while thousands of people are participating.
“There was always this notion and thought that Indians will never pay for experiences because, you know, we are not like a premium economy like the US or Europe,” he said. “But we were totally surprised.”
“A good product, a great experience can also convert into great businesses. And I think we’re just experiencing that,” he said.
Creating More Ways To Start
Rainmatter’s sporting strategy is not limited to international formats. It has also backed homegrown concepts such as Spectacom’s Devil Circuit and Sisters in Sweat, which creates fitness experiences specifically for women.
The focus, Dilip says, is not on choosing between international and domestic formats, but on creating more opportunities for people to find an activity that works for them.
“We were not looking at what is international, what is domestic,” Dilip said. “Our lens has been that what are the avenues, what we can support and create where more people have options.” That also means recognising that not everyone will begin with a demanding endurance format.
“Maybe everyone can’t do HYROX because of the intensity, but someone can start somewhere,” Dilip said. “Someone can do a 5k run. Someone can do a women’s only IP because women feel more comfortable there. Someone can do a Devil Circuit. Someone can do a triathlon.”
The approach is therefore about creating multiple entry points into an active lifestyle rather than one fixed definition of fitness.
Moving Beyond Investment
Rainmatter’s approach has now expanded beyond investing in individual businesses. The team has begun building Peakst8, a platform backed by Rainmatter and Zerodha that aims to bring multiple sports and fitness experiences together.
“Essentially, the idea was that we can create a platform now where we can house a lot of these IPs under it, and then we can help it grow more beyond just being an investor,” Dilip explained.
Peakst8 will integrate HYROX and Ironman while developing new homegrown intellectual properties. One such format is No Parking, a team-based fitness challenge involving running, exercises, rowing and cycling.
“We wanted to do something for teams, because there are a lot of formats which are for individuals,” Dilip said. The format uses two-member and four-member relay teams and is intended to be more accessible and social. “It’s a very beginner friendly format, we feel,” Dilip said.
Participants can compete with family members, friends or colleagues before potentially moving towards more demanding formats. Peakst8 also hosted its first festival in Bengaluru in January 2026, designed as a large-scale fitness and sports experience where beginners could experience different activities.
Taking Participation Beyond Metros
Dilip also sees the participation trend moving beyond major cities. Running, in particular, offers a relatively accessible starting point for people looking to become more active.
“I think now almost if you see this, some running event happening every weekend,” Dilip said. “Every weekend of the year, there’s a running event happening. And I see these events happening in Tier 2, Tier 3 events.” “Running is possibly the most organic, natural form of sport anyone can do to kind of stay fit,” Dilip said.
He believes participation also creates demand for a wider range of products, including running shoes, athleisure and performance gear. As he puts it, people buy such products because they are participating rather than simply watching.
“If you’re just spectating it, you don’t want a performance gear to watch something,” Dilip said. “You only buy these products because you are participating in this thing.” For Dilip, the opportunity extends beyond participants and sporting companies. “It’s just a great time as a customer to experience different formats, as an entrepreneur to build products which allows people to stay healthy and fit,” he said.
He also sees a role for brands in supporting wellness among their employees, customers and wider stakeholders. For Rainmatter, the larger opportunity is to make more people aware of health and give them more reasons to move.
Making Movement Mainstream
For Dilip, the timing matters. India’s young population presents an opportunity to make movement part of everyday culture, rather than treating fitness as something limited to athletes or dedicated fitness enthusiasts.
“I think if we do all these things now, rest assured, I think the future generation would be perhaps a little more healthier and fitter than what was in the past,” he said while speaking to The Logical Indian. The ambition is not necessarily to turn everyone into a competitive athlete. Instead, it is to normalise movement and give people more ways to discover activities that work for them.
“There is a merit in doing something where everyone comes together and kind of focuses with this one large vision of making movement a standard mainstream conversation,” Dilip said. For Rainmatter, Peakst8 represents another way of contributing to that vision.
“How can we make more Indians more aware of movement and make them give them more options to stay healthy and fit?” Dilip said. At the same time, Rainmatter does not claim to have single-handedly created the growing interest in participatory sports. Dilip himself makes that distinction.
“I don’t think we have contributed anything directly to this newfound adoption around Ironman and HYROX,” he said. “I think the products are great in itself.” Rainmatter’s role is increasingly moving beyond capital, backing entrepreneurs creating new ways for Indians to participate while building platforms and experiences that can bring more of those opportunities together.
The larger ambition is to move sport from something Indians primarily watch to something more people experience themselves. “To make movement a part of our everyday culture,” Dilip said.
That could mean starting with a 5K, discovering a community, trying a team challenge, taking on a marathon or eventually attempting an endurance event. The sport may change and the starting point may differ, but the underlying idea remains the same: give more Indians a reason to move.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
India’s sporting culture is increasingly making room for participation alongside spectatorship. Rainmatter’s approach highlights how investment, entrepreneurship and accessible sporting experiences can create more entry points into an active lifestyle. The next challenge is ensuring that this culture of movement reaches people across ages, cities and backgrounds.
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