Playfinder raise £1 million to help increase accessibility to sport post-lockdown

The UK’s leading sports facility booking marketplace, Playfinder, raises a further £1million to rapidly change the way venues and players access sports facilities.

25th October, 2021 – London – Playfinder, the UK’s leading sports facility booking marketplace, has successfully raised a further £1million in its latest funding round. The funding, led by Armajaro Holdings and new Chairman, David Roberts, cements Playfinder’s position as the go-to place to find and book sports venues up and down the country; and furthers its commitment to increasing accessibility and inclusivity in sports and activities across the UK. 

With just 7% of venue operators believing they have a suitable digital strategy in place, the additional funding puts Playfinder at the forefront of developing cutting-edge booking technology designed to support the growing needs of venues looking for smarter, contact-free, digital solutions post-lockdown. 

It will also enable the business to add key talent to its growing roster of industry experts and help maximise its ability to develop, and bring to market, solutions that will rapidly change the way people access sport. 

The funding coincides with a growth in users for Playfinder and an increased demand from people to ‘get back out there’ and start playing sport again. Compared to pre-pandemic levels Playfinder has seen business grow by 110%, with over 120,000 searches made by people looking to participate in sport in September alone.

Jamie Foale, CEO, Playfinder said “We believe now is the time for the amateur sports market to take the leap towards adopting digital solutions. The additional funding will enable us to accelerate our growth and further the development of our offering in a bid to increase adoption, accessibility and inclusivity for everyone.”

David Roberts, Chairman and investor, added: “This is a really exciting area to be involved in; sports venues need to look to digital solutions to increase the use of their facilities and make them more accessible. Playfinder is leading the way in this by creating a solution that makes finding and booking venues quick and simple for customers, and it’s been a pleasure to meet new and existing investors and to work with the highly skilled team to further grow and develop our offering.”

Playfinder remains committed to making it easier for everyone to play sport while increasing the utilisation of, and access to, facilities in underprivileged areas. Further expanding their online bookings marketplace will make it easier than ever for venues to fill spare capacity by advertising available slots to the local community, with Playfinder increasing bookings by over 40% at venues they work alongside. 

In wake of the new funding, Outwood Grange Academies Trust have become the latest operator to join Playfinder’s growing list of partners, which covers over 10,000 sports facilities and other spaces available to book through the platform, spread across 65 towns and cities in the UK and Ireland.

Alongside this, Playfinder have also launched Lockteq, the company’s first at-venue product. The state-of-the-art smart locks will offer increased security and accessibility to venues looking to provide a contact-free service to players in a Covid-conscious environment.

About Playfinder

Playfinder is a sports technology business that allows all players to find and book somewhere to play sport through their website and mobile apps, increasing the utilisation of sports facilities as a result. Listing over 2,000 sports venues across the UK and with 100,000 monthly users, Playfinder has helped 2 million people play sport since inception in 2014. Playfinder’s industry-first Search by Time technology allows for people to search for a specific time on demand and is only possible thanks to the range of venue operators that have integrated with their platform.

Contact details 

Jamie Foale, Founder & CEO: j.foale@playfinder.com / 0203 637 4328

Emilie Adib, Head of Marketing: emilie@playfinder.com / 0333 300 3478

Website: www.playfinder.com 

Instagram: @playfinder  Twitter: @playfinder

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