January 10 2020: We speak to Anto Binish Kaspar, Founder &  CEO, Roanuz Softwares Pvt Ltd,  a Chennai based company that builds cricket API with its advanced technology in cricket data  and now branching into other fantasy sports:
What inspired start to Roanuz? Why is it  named Roanuz?
From my childhood, I have been passionate about cricket, football and swimming. They were part of my everyday routine. I always wanted to pursue my passion as my career. After working in the IT industry for years, I understood the importance of data in the future. I connected my expertise in Technology and my passion towards Sports.
Initially, I planned to start a cricket-based website and a cricket fantasy app. Then I realised that data quality and data format were not readily available, in fact, if it were to be available, it was not adequate to create anything. Therefore, I built my own data and started to test and edit it using my first cricket-based product called Litzscore.
Meanwhile, I could foresee a huge opportunity for cricket data, which propelled me to create a Cricket API firm Roanuz. Roanuz means : Robotic Age.
After the initial launch, we had a lot of inquiries for the API and it continues thus far. Our first customer, Kings XI Punjab, came along. Other fan engagement apps and fantasy league apps also needed this data. We were instrumental in the growth of fantasy league apps in India. Today, we support about 90 per cent of the fantasy league apps.
|Looking ahead, we want to be a global data provider by utilising state-of-the-art technology and AI to improve quality and provide faster delivery. We are expanding our coverage to more sports and e-sports. We’ve already launched Kabaddi API, Volleyball API and Bootable API and will continue to build APIs for the rest of the sports.
What are your service offerings?
Roanuz provides the right solution in the sports field, and will assist our customers on how to use our product. Our products are Cricket API, Football API, Kabaddi API, Historical Stats  & Timeline API (Performance API), Chatbot API, Fantasy API and Football Enterprise API. It is just  one click away to get their desired API and will help them to set it up . The customer can start using the product within 3-5 days from the date of purchase. The price range starts from $80 to $420 depending on the API they choose. Roanuz had partnered with various brands and offered their product to run IPL 2019 campaigns, the key one being Zomato, RCB, and BookMyShow.
What are the opportunities in the market?
It has been a seismic shift in the smartphone and internet users which has opened doors for many innovative business as fantasy sports and gaming and the industry also witnessed a mammoth growth in the decade. According to Orbis research, in 2018, the global fantasy sports market size was USD 13900 million and it is expected to reach $ 33200 by the end of 2025. In India, the internet has become comparatively less that has significantly helped the industry and made the user play without much interruption and not panicking about data pricing. According to KPMG and The India Federation of ports Gaming (IFSG), The industry is already worth Rs  43 billion and is said to reach Rs 118.8 billion by 2023.The sports data and AI market has huge market opportunity in india and can expect many new market players emerge within few years. Sports analytics market is expected to reach $ 4.6 billion by 2024 across the globe.
What are the synergies between the online gaming industry and fantasy games?
The online gaming and fantasy games have been an integral part of life after the mobile data price had gone down According to Kantar IMRB report there are 250 million-plus mobile games in india , who daily spends 60 minutes playing mobile games in india. India is already one of the top five markets for mobile gaming users.