New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 200 startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience by allowing Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series. This particular startup is a part of HYPE Foundation’s “Top 50” Program. HYPE created a global platform which aims to accelerate and invest in sports innovation.
Company name: recCenter
Headquarters: New York, NY
1. What is your elevator pitch?
recCenter is a social marketplace for the recreational sports communities. We connect players, league & venue owners, tournament organizers, captains, instructors and more into a mobile centric platform where they can promote their services and products, manage schedules, payments & communication, and harness the power of social marketing by sharing engaging content with the community.
2. Problem & Solution
The recreational sports ecosystem is fragmented and broken.
Active recreational athletes are using a variety of different platforms and services that are not curated or tailored for 5 main elements of their active life – Discovery, Registration, Communication, Commerce, Social.
Sellers/Service providers (e.g league and event organizers, venue managers, referees, instructors) on the other hand also require to use a multitude of platforms to engage and manage their players, acquire other services and products to run their business, but ultimately they lack a marketing tool to reach a dedicated audience, grow and further monetize their users.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Our focus is on team/social sports for adults in the US, which is more than 25% of the US adult population but understanding that the typical active rec athlete is involved in multiple additional sports and activities such as fitness, winter sports, running and more, we’ve created an environment for all rec sports activities and facilities and provide tools not just for mid-large sized business like leagues, venues and big brands, but for long tail and individual “sellers” like instructors, coaches, referees and group organizers to be able to promote themselves.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
The platform and its tools are free and we do not charge registration/SaaS fees from players or the leagues/teams/venues. In the future certain transactions like subscriptions will include platform fees.
Our main goal is to connect sports brands to the audience and serve as an e-commerce platform with an affiliation fee.
In addition, we plan to add content and gear sponsorships for the businesses on the platform and split the revenue with the sellers.
5. Management Team – with titles
Shahar Chaskelevitch – Founder & CEO
Amidan Roth – Co-founder & CTO
Christie MacKinnon – VP Marketing
Dima Grossman – Dev Lead
Tomer Barnea – Dev Lead
Yael Darel – VP Product
6. Anything else you want the audience to know about your venture?
The mobile app is currently in beta mode and the marketplace is active mostly in the NY/NJ area but we are already mapping the rest of the US and on-boarding more sellers and service providers.
The beta phase will end Q1 as we release our web app for sellers to manage their schedules, payments and communication with their audience.