Indian cricket star Virat Kohli has opened a new front in his off-field career, shifting from global endorsement icon to homegrown sportswear investor. The 36-year-old has ended his long association with Puma and tied up with Indian startup Agilitas Sports, moving his lifestyle-athleisure label One8 to the Bengaluru-based company and buying an equity stake in the venture.

Virat Kohli: From record Puma deal to a strategic exit

Kohli’s turn towards Agilitas marks the close of one of Indian sport’s biggest endorsement stories. His original deal with Puma, signed in 2017, was reportedly worth ₹110 crore and ran for eight years, during which One8 was launched under Puma’s umbrella as a lifestyle-athleisure label.

Media reports now indicate that Kohli walked away from a renewal offer of around ₹300 crore to back Agilitas instead. The decision effectively swaps the security of a multinational sponsorship for a riskier, ownership-driven play in an Indian startup.

A ₹40 crore stake and a new role at Agilitas

Agilitas Sports was founded in 2023 by Abhishek Ganguly, former managing director of Puma India and Southeast Asia. Kohli has come on board as both investor and brand ambassador, with regulatory filings indicating an initial investment of ₹40 crore via Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS), giving him about a 1.94% stake in the company.

This converts Kohli from a celebrity face to a stakeholder with a say in shaping the company’s direction.The move “elevates Kohli’s role from brand ambassador to co-creator and stakeholder,” with Agilitas positioned as a full-lifecycle sportswear firm spanning manufacturing to retail.

Kohli himself has framed the shift as a conviction play on Indian capability. He said he was persuaded by Ganguly’s explanation of Agilitas’s “manufacturing capabilities,” “expertise” and the team being assembled, and felt “this could become something big.” Emphasising the local dimension, he described the products as “designed by people of our own, made here,” and said the foundation of the project was about “fulfilling your potential.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he summed up the move as “a new journey” for One8 and Agilitas.

One8 goes ‘Made in India’ with global ambitions

The partnership is built around One8, which Kohli has transferred to Agilitas. Under the agreement, the startup will handle product development, manufacturing and global retail expansion for the brand.

Agilitas, which has already integrated major footwear maker Mochiko Shoes Pvt. Ltd. and secured international licensing rights for other brands, is pitching itself as a comprehensive sportswear and athleisure platform.

  The company’s model includes managing the full chain from factories to store shelves, and under the new deal One8 products will now be distributed and expanded through this ecosystem.

Plans outlined in the two reports point to:

• a refreshed brand identity for One8,
• new footwear and apparel collections, and
• a wider retail presence in India and overseas.

Agilitas aims to build on domestic manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities to create a “Made-in-India” sportswear label that can compete globally. Insiders cited by India Today suggest the ambition is to turn One8 into a global brand with an eventual presence in markets outside India.

From endorser to entrepreneur-owner

Kohli’s decision fits into a growing shift in how elite athletes approach commerce. The Agilitas move positions him “not just as a brand ambassador but as a stakeholder and co-creator,” calling it part of a trend of Indian athletes embracing ownership and entrepreneurship instead of relying solely on endorsements.

By taking equity through CCPS and transferring his own brand into the platform, Kohli is tying One8’s future directly to Agilitas’s performance. The choice to turn down a reportedly far larger guaranteed deal from Puma in favour of a smaller but strategic stake underlines that shift in priorities.

For India’s fledgling sportswear ecosystem, the partnership puts a high-visibility face on an explicitly local, manufacturing-led play, one that aims to move from “made for India” to “made in India, sold globally.”

A business pivot timed with on-field resurgence

The business announcement comes at a moment when Kohli’s cricket is again in sharp focus. Days before formalising the Agilitas tie-up, he was named Player of the Series in India’s 2-1 ODI victory over South Africa, scoring two centuries and a half-century and looking close to his “vintage” best.’

Despite being in what it calls the “twilight” of his international career, Kohli remains among the country’s most marketable athletes, now playing only one format after retiring from Tests and T20Is and targeting the 2027 World Cup scheduled to be hosted in Africa.  

He currently resides in London and is expected back in India later in December to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy before India’s ODI series against New Zealand in January.

With the paperwork in place, the next few seasons will test whether Agilitas and One8 can convert star power, domestic manufacturing muscle and a “designed and made here” pitch into a durable global athleisure business.

For now, Kohli’s move is a clear statement: instead of merely fronting a global brand, he is choosing to help build an Indian one from the inside out, with his name, his capital and his flagship label on the line.

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