Ravi Krishnan's ASE to empower IP ownership in sports, entertainment
He's launched ASE (Abler Sports & Entertainment), pronounced 'Ace", a full-service, IP- and data-driven company that converges sports, media, fashion, wellness and entertainment.
Goal? To help brands, celebrities, teams and rightsholders stop being 'renters" of intellectual property (IP) and start becoming owners.
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'We want to build a business of scale, significance and positive impact," Krishnan told Mint. 'Everything I've done till now, from IMG to Stepathlon to building IPs like Lakmé Fashion Week, Sahara Cup feels like it's coming together in this one venture."
Built across six divisions—ASE Engage (data), ASE Advisory (consulting), ASE Partnerships (rights and revenue), ASE Consumer (licensing and merchandise), ASE Media (non-live content), and ASE Alive (events)—the company aims to bridge content, commerce and community through a mix of owned IPs and client partnerships. The model allows ASE to act as a content creator, commercial partner, strategic advisor and digital data engine, depending on the brand or market need.
At the heart of ASE is the belief that IP ownership unlocks enterprise value, not just brand visibility. Citing examples like Lakmé Fashion Week and the IPL's sponsor churn, Krishnan said the future lies in co-creating long-term assets with commercial control. 'Celebrities don't want to drive $100 million of sales for $100,000 in endorsement fees anymore. They want a piece of the pie."
One of ASE's early differentiators is its ownership of Stepathlon, the wellness and fan engagement platform now powering its data division, ASE Engage. With over a million users and a rebuilt tech backbone, the platform helps ethically collect zero- and first-party data, co-owned with clients, to build detailed fan profiles and drive outcomes beyond vanity metrics. 'We don't believe in profitless volume," said Krishnan. 'The idea is to turn awareness into action, and casual fans into actively engaged communities."
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Zero-party data is a set of information that a customer voluntarily provides to a brand, such as their preferences, purchase intentions etc, while first-party data also include details observed or inferred by the brand, typically from website analytics, customer behaviour and assumptions about visitors.
ASE is focused on maximizing what it calls 'Fan Lifetime Value' (FLV) by converting casual interest into long-term monetizable engagement across digital and physical touchpoints.
Krishnan is particularly bullish on the role of India and other emerging markets as both creators and exporters of pop culture IP. 'India's time has come. It's not just about inbound. We're looking at outbound too. Look at what Dishoom has done for Indian food in London, or how Apollo and BKT are sponsoring global teams and events. We're focusing on the rise of cool, contemporary India."
Women's sport is another area Krishnan sees significant upside in. ASE is currently working with World Rugby on fan engagement for the 2025 Women's World Cup in England, and is in talks to co-create new women-centric IPs across multiple sports and content formats. 'On the field, I believe Indian women can lead the world in sport. We want to go deep with this vertical to ultimately create an ASE W division, an ecosystem for women's sport."
ASE also plans to own or co-own IPs in experiential sportainment (sports and entertainment), blending sports, music, fashion, food and wellness into festival-style formats. Krishnan cited examples like the Australian Open and LIV Golf as global blueprints and said profitability independent of linear broadcast will be a key criterion. 'We don't believe in profitless volume. Impact comes from quantitatively and qualitatively building sustainable platforms."
The company has already closed five deals across three verticals before launch, including advisory mandates for Destination Sport Group's India entry and Urban Turf (synthetic courts). It is also working on eight more. Through ASE Advisory, it facilitates inbound and outbound partnerships for Indian and global brands.
Its investor and advisory board includes former IMG veterans, private equity players, and a diverse group spanning geographies and sectors. Among its notable backers are Mike Dolan (former IMG global president and chief executive officer of Bacardi), Suv Mohapatra (managing director, Accenture Singapore), Greg Sproule (former head, IMG Middle East), Shekhar Ramamurthy (deputy chairman, Allied Breweries) and Jeremy Gardner (founder, Mystic Ventures).
It also includes global leaders such as Jim Glover (CSM, ARENA), Ashutosh Srivastava (ex-GroupM APAC chief executive officer), Alison Lee (ATP Tour), John Loffhagen (ex-IMG legal head), Ekta Hutton (FIFA Digital) and investors Josh Liberman and Veeru Murugappan.
'As early backers of Ravi's vision, we believe ASE is uniquely positioned to unlock long-term value at the intersection of sport, data and culture," said Josh Liberman, co-founder of CVS Lane and Lumir Ventures. 'This is a long play, but one that can shape global conversations."
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'This is not just an India play. We're a global business with offices in Mumbai, London, San Francisco and Australia. Our head is global but our heart is Indian and emerging markets. We want to be the bridge between analogue and the digital-native future of fan engagement, content and commerce. We want to be the trusted ally for brands, rights holders and even governments—combining purpose and profit, powered by a truly global and locally 'grounded' team," Krishnan said.
When asked about the moonshot, Krishnan only smiled: 'It's coming. Big bets don't always start with a roadmap. They emerge when you're in the room, not on Zoom."
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