Pitchero, a UK-based startup that makes it easy for amateur and grassroots sports clubs to curate their online presence and manage the growth of their communities online, has raked in £3.1 million in Series A funding. The round was led by ICM, a global fund manager with numerous other sporting interests including Harlequins Rugby Club.
Founded substantially long ago back in 2007, Pitchero’s original claim to fame was answering the needs of amateur and grassroots teams who did not have access a digital platform to organise and grow their community. Today, the company services more than 70,000 sports teams, claiming over 1 million active users across football, rugby, hockey and cricket. In a statement to TechCrunch, Pitchero co-founder and CEO Mark Fletcher said:
We wanted to connect players, parents and coaches together on one platform making communication and organisation easier. We soon found providing each club with a website, creating small online communities for each club, then connecting each club website via fixtures and league tables was the way to go.
To meet that requirement, the Pitchero platform provides tools to create a website, manage membership, collect payments, organize teams, communicate, upload videos and photos, and attract new players, parents and coaches. Fletcher continued:
We are trying to be the one-stop-solution for all the digital requirements of a grassroots sports club.
The new inflow of funding, meanwhile, will reportedly be used to focus mainly on the growth of global grassroots soccer, including pushing its recently launched video product Pitchero Play, which features it selling a full hardware and software kit to record and push match highlights to both the Pitchero platform and external social media.
It has also signed a broadcast arrangement for non-league football, after agreeing to a deal to film all future matches in the Northern Premier League.
