Teamer.net, a sports management web firm, has received a €500,000 investment led by Kernel Capital and the Bank of Ireland’s Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund.
The Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund committed €350,000 and the remainder of the funds were raised through private BES (Business Expansion Scheme) investment sourced by the company.
Teamer, which launched in September 2008, has been growing rapidly in both the Irish and UK markets, and recently signed up its 250,000th team member. This funding will enable the Company to accelerate its user acquisition in international markets.
“At Teamer, we are looking to build a global internet brand in the sports digital media space,” said Niall McEvoy, Teamer’s CEO.
“Having validated our business revenue model in the Irish market, we are now looking to accelerate our member growth in key overseas markets,” added McEvoy.
“We have grown our member base to more than 250,000 members, and are targeting growth of more than 1.5m members by 2011. We have just signed up our 100,000th UK member, and are seeing significant traction in Australia as their winter sports season approaches.”
Opportunity for Teamer.net
Commenting on the announcement, Orla Rimmington, operations manager, Kernel Capital, said: “Teamer is an exciting Irish internet start-up in the dynamic, fast moving and rapidly growing social media space. There is a significant opportunity to scale this business in international markets, and there is enormous depth in the sport verticals in which Teamer operates.”
Teamer’s technology allows sports club managers and members to use email and text messaging to notify the team about upcoming games.
Leinster star Bernard Jackman said: “I’ve been using Teamer for over a year at club level.
“It’s a fantastic free service that makes the life of the volunteer organiser so much easier, saving a lot of time and money for both the organisers and the club,” Jackman added.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Bernard Jackman, Leinster Rugby; Orla Rimmington, operations manager, Kernel Capital; and Niall McEvoy, CEO, Teamer
