Spanish startup Playtomic, one of Europe’s largest apps for sports venue bookings, has taken another step in its internationalization strategy with the purchase of Playven, a Silicon-Valley based sports technology company whose cutting-edge CRM tool radically simplifies sports venue management.
We featured Playtomic in our recent 10 Madrid startups to watch article. The startup, founded in 2017, is a booking app for paddle, football and tennis courts. The idea is to enable people to practice sports in a more convenient way, reserving a sports facility in just three clicks on the app. At the same time, it keeps sports centres busy and helps improve efficiency in the management of their facilities. Besides booking, Playtomic can be also used to find other players with similar skill levels and to join a social sports community. In 2019, the startup raised €6 million to expand internationally.
Playven, founded in 2015, is a Silicon Valley-based technology company founded by two Finnish entrepreneurs Topias Soininen and Jesse Heikkilä, who aims to build a tennis and paddle courts marketplace app and club management tool. Thanks to Playven’s technology, sports clubs can optimize their facilities and step into a new age with simple digital operations. Former ATP No. 13 Jarkko Nieminen is one of the investors and advisors of the company, alongside investors of OpenTable, AirBnB, Slack and Trulia.
Playtomic’s recent acquisition of Playven will help the Spanish company to stay ahead in the global market for sports reservations. Since August 2018, Playtomic has experienced compound monthly growth rates of 25% in the number of sport venue reservations. More than a million players booked space via Playtomic’s reservation platform last year, placing the company’s application in the top 10 among sports apps in Apple’s App store. The firm also signed on new high profile clubs to its network, including the largest tennis club in Latin America.
Now with Playven founders Topias Soininen and Jesse Heikkilä joining the Playtomic Team, Playtomic will offer the best technological solution for the three components of this marketplace – clubs, players and organizers – strengthening its leading position in the sports industry.
Pedro Clavería, co-CEO and co-founder of Playtomic comments: “We are thrilled to join forces with Playven and its founders Topias Soininen and Jesse Heikkilä. Incorporating their technology into ours will allow us to keep growing to become the uncontested leader in the sports reservations market in the world. Together we will be able to offer an even better experience and more exciting opportunities to our customers – players and clubs – beyond reservations.”
Also by adding Per Roman and Henrik Persson to Playtomic’s board, the company hopes to capitalize on these executives’ experience and strategic vision in the development of startups that have revolutionized the customer experience in sectors going through digital disruption. Roman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GP Bullhound and Persson, Founder of Optimizer Invest, oversee two of the most relevant funds at European level and have taken part in previous funding rounds of Playtomic.
