With fleeting attention spans, it’s no wonder that many people complain about getting bored too quickly or not being able to find the time to pursue their passions.
But, taking this as a problem to solve, is a whole another game. In-person social gatherings, creative activities, community engagement are seen as a way to escape pressure and kill boredom.
Gurugram-based Misfits
knows this all too well. The idea emerged because the founders could not figure out how to kill time on weekends or idle hours. Shashwat Narhatiyar, Chaitanya Dhawan, Saurabh Sharma and Shaswat Kar were flatmates in Gurugram, and their decision to host house parties, game nights and more led to Misfits.
The startup which made a net revenue of INR 45 Lakhs in FY25, boasts about 85,000 downloads for Misfits app today. While most people’s way of killing boredom would be to hang out with friends or go out for any activity, these founders turned this opportunity into a business built around experiences and activities.
In fact, going-out and activities are trends that are expected to hold in the long run within the recreation and entertainment industry. The investments by giants such as Swiggy and Eternal into their going-out businesses is a testament to this thesis.
But while those two giants are going after ticketed events, Misfits is paving the way for individuals to arrange meetups regularly, community events, sporting activities and more.
The startup competes against others such as Oopar Club, Playo, Meetup, Leap Club, SoulJams and Nyburs, among others.
How Misfits Came Into Being
It all started in April 2022, when four flatmates shifted to theme parties from plain old house parties. These involved a board game night or murdery mystery night, or jamming sessions at home.
They hosted friends and family by connecting through a platform called Mojo back then. In about four months, the circle grew and events started getting good traction. By August 2022, the idea had evolved and took on a commercial form.
Expenses for the meetups were shared by all participants after that point, and the four founders had stumbled upon a proof of concept without spending too much time on researching the market. The hands-on approach has served Misfits well as the company was able to get a tricky community-led model off the ground without too much cashburn.
In the early days, their initiative was known as “Misfits Manor”, and it only had a handful of followers on social media to start with. This is when experiments with a subscription or membership model began to take shape.
After experimenting for quite a few months with evening hangouts, Misfits Manor began hosting meetups during the day for outdoor and sports activities such as badminton games, cycle tours, cricket matches, hiking, with an eye to scale their events list.
“We sold a monthly membership, with three-meetups priced at INR 1000 and six-meetups option. We got 14 subscriptions for the month of August. The charges were mostly for the refreshment and food ordered,” Misfits cofounder Kar told Inc42.
With the signs of positive traction of the membership plan and repeat participant rate, the cofounders decided to pivot to an activity-based community model, with a board gaming club in January 2023.
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After a year’s experiment of running these groups with the support of others, the quartet decided to formally launch in 2023, expand and onboard more users. Instead of curating events, the platform decided to let the community guide the programming and events lineup.
“So that became Misfits. Our core idea was to become a platform that enables people to run their own communities without any friction such as the pains of arranging an event, marketing it and finding the right venue,” cofounder and CEO Narhatiyar added.
Misfits was launched as an experience platform in 2024, and right off the bat, it raised INR 5 Cr from InfoEdge and Better Capital to kick off its journey as a startup.
The ‘Club Leaders’ Model
Most experiences and activities platforms these days either host a specific style of events or act as a ticketing platform for diverse gatherings. Misfits sets itself apart with a full stack solution for individuals to host events, with venue tie-ups.
The company has created operating procedures for individuals which guides them on how to organise and conduct these meetups. The startup also offers support for marketing these activities and allows organisers to earn money through these engagements.
At the heart of Misfits are what the founders call “club leaders”. These individuals organise different communities for people to sign up, built around activities such as hiking and outdoors, music, reading, yoga, photography, painting, walking tours, sports and more.
Thus far, the startup claims to have received close to 1,000 applications from potential club leaders, which underscores its conviction in this model. Of these applicants, the startup has screened and onboarded only about 150-200 club leaders on the platform as of now.
“We look at each club leaders’ nature and whether this will make the club feel welcoming. We also evaluate their ability to manage a meetup.”
As per CEO Narhatiyar, club leaders earn income by selling tickets priced at between INR 200 and INR 400 for their activity. Misfits charges a commission — roughly 30-40% of the ticket sales.
To facilitate these meetups, the startup has roped in venues and facilities through a partnership model and operates a marketplace of sorts for club leaders and these venues. Much of the catering and other on-ground logistics are managed by the venue in this case.
Going-Out Is Growing Big
While currently restricted to Gurugram, Misfits target is to reach millennials and Gen Z Indians that are starved for personalised and engaging experiences. Narhatiyar claimed that around 4,500-5,000 customers attend Misfits meetups every month, with 500 meetups hosted in a month.
Where exactly is the company spending most of its money at this stage? The CEO claimed all of Misfits’ expenses are of a fixed cost nature, which includes employee salaries, central functions, third-party costs, office rent, tech and more.
“Our total burn right now is somewhere around INR 20 Lakh to INR 23 Lakh per month,” said Narhatiyar and added that on an ARR basis, Misfits is currently on track to hit INR 2.5 Cr for FY26 or around INR 22 Lakh every month. This leaves it a bit short of a positive contribution margin, which the company is hoping will be addressed through scale.
Rivals such as Alive, which is based in Bengaluru, have also shown strong traction in recent times with differentiated experiences such as horse riding, go-kart racing, coffee brewing and golfing, among others, at a starting price of about INR 2,500.
The India online event ticketing market was $3.31 Bn in 2024 and is expected to increase to $7.1 Bn by 2033, with an 8.90% CAGR. This rise is fueled by increasing digital penetration, mobile app adoption, and growing demand for live entertainment, as per an iMarc report.
The market potential is significant. Analysts estimate the live entertainment and ticketing sector could grow 20–30% annually over the next few years, driven by festivals, youth culture, and brand-led experiences, and the emergence of dedicated platforms such as Misfits which cater to the long-tail need of going-out and activities.
While the likes of District, Swiggy Scenes and BookMyShow have the scale and network to outpace smaller startups, the advantage for Misfits and others is that they can go after events that these larger companies will typically avoid. Plus, like Narhatiyar claimed, the USP for Misfits is that individuals can take charge of their events, unlike a large event that has ticketing on District or BMS.
With the growing market potential in hand and the capacity to scale it stronger, Misfits is looking to expand to other Indian cities in the next calendar year. After March 2026, Misfits is looking to hit a monthly revenue scale of INR 60 Lakh, and is targeting close to INR 3.5 Cr in income for FY27.
“In terms of our bottom line, we’ve been doing around 20 or 30% of our overall GMV today. We aim to reach a state where we’re only burning around INR 5 Lakh every month,” he added.
[Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam]
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