Belfast-headquartered sports technology business TeamFeePay was founded by Liam McStravick in August 2021.
In the space of five years, the company has grown to become a market leader in the UK and Europe. It continues an upward trajectory, boosted by a funding round totalling £9million last December.
TeamFeePay provides a professional platform for grassroots clubs to manage payments and registrations, fundraising and e-commerce, helping to reduce administration and increase income.
The ambitious company, which has a team of 104 full-time staff, is going from strength to strength and currently supports 2,200 clubs across the UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy.
Its current expansion strategy includes plans to create a further 50 jobs in sales, marketing and product development roles in the coming months.
CEO, Liam McStravick, who is a driving force behind TeamFeePay, is proud to see the Belfast firm making a name for itself on the global stage.
Explaining how the business concept became a reality, he shared: “I played football, studied sport and always wanted to work in the industry, so, after my playing days came to an end, I built several businesses around football and sport, between 2005 to 2021.
“In 2021, I saw a niche in the market for a digital cash and membership solution. The admin challenges faced by clubs were really exacerbated during Covid. Clubs couldn’t get money from their members in-person in the middle of lockdown, so a digital solution looked like the way forward.
“Another factor that went in our favour was virtual meetings becoming the norm and having the ability to connect with clubs in the UK, and meet them face-to-face, albeit over a computer – without having to board a plane, train, or car.
“We launched TeamFeePay in August 2021 following a seed investment round earlier that year. The business was started up by four co-founders who are all still actively involved today.
“At the end of year one, we had 100 paying customers and around 90% of them were in Northern Ireland.
“It’s the inverse now… we have 2,200 customers, and almost 500,000 players, parents and coaches on the platform and 90% of those are outside Northern Ireland.
“We’ve just broken into the Spanish and Italian markets in a very meaningful way and if things continue on the current trajectory, I believe we will employ another 100 people in addition to the 50 mentioned above to get after the European markets over the next 24 months.
“The investment round in December was the catalyst that allowed us to go and spend money in those countries.”
The funding round was led by a £4.5m investment from YFM Equity Partners and a £3m investment by the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland (IFNI) equity fund, managed by Clarendon Fund Managers.
TeamFeePay
It also included an £800,000 investment from Techstart and £700,000 from private investors.
“That funding has enabled us to become the clear UK category leader and to test the market in Europe. We are potentially looking at another investment round at the end of the year. That could be anywhere between £5 million and £25 million depending on how aggressive we want to be in getting after the market opportunity in Europe.
“That additional funding would allow us to grow to become the EU category leader by some distance and, effectively, be the second biggest in the world. We genuinely believe we can achieve that in the next three years.
“I have a chairman in the business, Michael Black, who continues to push me and give me great inner belief to do what many people may view as impossible.
“You need people who believe in you and Clarendon and Techstart have really believed in us and backed us from the start – and that’s because we deliver.
“We’re currently sitting at 2,200 clubs and the plan for the next three years is to grow to 10,000 clubs.
“We’re adding about 120 clubs every single month right now. Just sustaining that gets us to 10,000 clubs and that will get us to about £50 million in revenue.
“Should I get approval from the board, founders and senior team to complete a further funding round, I’d like to think we could grow to 15,000-20,000 clubs and £100m in revenue in the next five years.
“Investment brings more than money…investment brings expertise, it brings oversight and, if you are humble enough and you lean into that, that collective expertise will help you build a world-leading company.
“You’ve got to believe in what you’re building, and you’ve got to go all in.
“I’d like to thank our people, investors, shareholders and customers for supporting us as we’ve developed unique software that is helping empower clubs to thrive on and off the pitch.”
Stuart Gaffikin, investment director at Clarendon Fund Managers, commented: “Our investment has helped Liam and his team to expand into new markets and scale the business internationally.
“TeamFeePay has built a strong, mission-driven team with a deep commitment to grassroots sport, and we are confident they will continue to develop innovative solutions that help clubs of all sizes in the UK, Ireland and across Europe to thrive.”
British Business Bank Senior Investment Manager, Sue Barnard, said: “TeamFeePay is shaping up to be a great success. Liam and the other co-founders have created a unique, simple solution that provides substantial benefits for grassroot clubs.
“The success they have had already means I have no doubt this is just the start of their journey. It really is pleasing that the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland has been able to support them at this important stage in their development.
“Across Northern Ireland there are founders who show incredible ambition and resilience each day. The strength of the fund is its ability to help unique businesses thrive and I would encourage other businesses to get in touch with our fund managers to see how they can help your growth.”
