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Ola launches #RoadToGold, a nationwide crowdfunding campaign to enable India’s Gold medal dream at world sporting events
MUMBAI: Ola, India’s leading and one of the world’s largest ride-sharing platforms, today launched a nationwide crowdfunding campaign to develop grassroots sporting talent – #RoadToGold. The campaign aims to support India’s collective dream to increase the chances of winning Gold medals at major global sporting events. To kick start this campaign, Ola has enabled its customers to contribute a sum of INR 1, per ride across the 110+ cities it operates in.
The collected funds will be used to identify promising talent from India’s heartlands, and mould them into champion sportspeople through state-of-the-art infrastructure, professional training from international coaches, complemented by extensive sports science facilities and a structured academic program. These future sporting stars will also benefit from support and guidance from Indian sporting legends such as Sourav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhupathi, Abhinav Bindra and Yogeshwar Dutt, amongst others.
Ola has partnered with JSW Sports’ Institute in Bellary, Karnataka to play an active role in the training and coaching of young athletes at the facility. Ola and JSW sports share a common vision to identify and nurture the latent sporting talent in grassroots India. By combining the widespread reach of Ola’s platform and JSW Sports’ expertise in developing sporting talent over the years, #RoadToGold is poised to catapult India’s medal-winning performances and increase the nation’s image as a champion performer. The campaign will also be bolstered by an awareness drive spearheaded by superstar Akshay Kumar, and the cast of the movie ‘Gold’.
Speaking on this initiative, Pallav Singh, Senior Vice President, Ola said “We are proud to introduce #RoadToGold, a nationwide initiative towards supporting exceptional sporting talent in the country. The right encouragement complements sports professionals’ immense talent to win accolades at a global stage and together with a small contribution of INR 1, we can strengthen India’s chances of winning Gold medals globally.” He further added “We are glad to partner with JSW Sports and Excel entertainment who have been staunch supporters of sports in India through infrastructure and entertainment. Together, we share the dream to identify high calibre talent and turn them into medal winning performers.”
Commenting on this initiative Mustafa Ghouse, CEO, JSW Sports, said “At JSW Sports, we have supported talented Indian sportspersons over the past few years and have seen the kind of impact that proper training and facilities can have on performances. Through our institute, we are attempting to take this initiative even wider by providing young talent across India access to world class infrastructure and sports science to help them realise their potential. We are proud to partner with a company like Ola to foster sporting talent and spearhead a generation of exceptional sportspersons.”
Speaking on this occasion Ritesh Sidhwani, Producer, Excel Entertainment said “The initiative to enable India’s gold medal dream worked seamlessly with our film’s message of Free India’s first Olympic Gold. It’s great to see all of us coming together to sow the seed for India’s glorious future in sports.”
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UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
