Madrid-based startup Playtomic has announced raising €1.7 million in a round led by GP Bullhound and Optimizer Invest. We’ve had our eye on Playtomic for a while now, first featuring them in our article 10 Madrid startups to watch article, and then reporting their growth milestones a few months ago.
Playtomic, 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. This also keeps sports centres busy and helps improve efficiency and the digitalisation 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.
It was just in January of this year that Playtomic announced acquiring Playven, a Silicon Valley-based technology company founded by two Finnish entrepreneurs Topias Soininen and Jesse Heikkilä, who aim to build a tennis and paddle courts marketplace app and club management tool. They also just passed 1 million users a few months ago, showing their fast-growing user-base.
In 2019, the startup raised €6 million to expand internationally. This week’s new capital injection will give the company additional financial muscle to grow, through both acquisitions and product development.
Pedro Clavería, Playtomic’s Co-CEO, commented: “We are honoured by the confidence that our main owners show us by continuing to invest in Playtomic. My team is now working with high intensity and evaluating exciting acquisitions both inside and outside Europe. Padel is and remains a very popular sport all over the world, and we now have the opportunity to help all sportspersons get the most out of this sport.”
Per Roman, Managing Partner of GP Bullhound, said: “We are proud to continue supporting the extraordinary entrepreneurs that are Pedro Clavería, Pablo Carro and Felix Ruiz. We are pleased to stand behind them and provide support through our capital as well as our global network and knowledge, to help Playtomic continue in its expansion, on its mission to take over the world of sports bookings.”
Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Partner at Optimizer Invest, added: “We see enormous potential in Playtomic and are convinced that exciting times await the company. Although Covid-19 puts many social sports activities on pause right now, we know how great the need will be to play racket sports once this is over. We now make sure to support the company with both capital and network, so that Playtomic can be at the top of its game when it’s time to play matches again.”
GP Bullhound is investing in Playtomic through GP Bullhound Fund IV SCSp, which focuses on growth stage business in the software, digital media, marketplaces and fintech sectors. Recent investments include Revolut, Slack, Klarna, Unity, RavenPack and Believe.
