Sports facility management platform Pitchbooking nets £250k investment

by Startacus Admin

SportTech Belfast startup Pitchbooking, a platform that provides greater access to sports facilities for the public while streamlining the facility owner’s internal processes, secures £250k investment to help become the market leader in sports facility management.

Pitchbooking has secured £250,000 in funding in an investment round led by local investment firm Aurient Ltd and backed by Techstart Ventures and Co-Fund NI, managed by Clarendon Fund Managers. The round was completed by private investors across the UK and New York.

The sport-tech business, which is based in the Ormeau Baths in Belfast (and in CodeBase a startup incubator hub in Edinburgh), has developed a platform that provides greater access to sports facilities for the public while streamlining the facility owner’s internal processes.

Founded by life-long friends Fearghal Campbell, Chris McCann and Shea O’Hagan, who went to school together in Armagh, Pitchbooking has already facilitated over 15,000 sport sessions for members of the public. The new capital raised will be used to support Pitchbooking’s growth ambitions in the UK and the rest of the world.

Shea O’Hagan CEO of Pitchbooking said: “Before Pitchbooking, finding a place to play meant the time and frustration of hopeful phone calls, booking slips and outdated payment methods. Facility managers, on the other hand, are too often caught in a painful administrative tangle of enquiries, invoices, double-bookings and other such headaches. Many also don’t have the time or resources to promote their facilities to the wider public."

“With Pitchbooking, players can search thousands of facilities at the click of a button and complete their booking in less than a minute. Facility managers gain instant exposure to a wide sporting public and the ease of our simple, fully automated booking platform. We’ve seen that this encourages use of the facility, drives revenue to the facility owner, and ultimately, encourages more people to get active.”

Pitchbooking launched last year with Oxford City Council as its first major customer. A recent partnership with Goals has resulted in Pitchbooking offering services in over 50 locations across the UK. 

Pitchbooking pitched at the 2018 upSTART startup pitch competition at Digital DNA and we chatted to the Pitchbooking team for good measure too whilst we they there, so we are of course delighted to share word on their success. Congrats team! 

If you like the sound of Pitchbooking, you might want to also read:

Football scouting just became a whole lot easier - for players and clubs alike, thanks to Tonsser

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• #sports facility management
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• #edinburgh

Published on: 6th February 2019