New technology from startup ventures is transforming the sports industry. The mission of this series is to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story. Feel free to contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for this series.
Company name: Valora Digital
Founder(s): Borja Burguillos, Javier Montero & Raul Matallanos
Headquarters: Dubai, UAE
1. What is your elevator pitch?
ValoraFutbol is a web based tech platform and app that offers football followers and fans around the world the chance to rate players, managers and referees from the best leagues and world tournaments in real-time during and after each game, turning them into the “ratings” generators that become the football reference.
We have become the reference site for user-generated football performance rankings globally, allowing everyone to rate, play, share and browse the content.
Valorafutbol wants to play a key role in the Football and Sports industry capturing value across different stages in the sport eco-system monetary flow.
We have created a new ecosystem “Rate, Play, Share & Win” by connecting the stakeholders of the football ecosystem. At a first stage we boost Football fans engagement by linking ValoraFutbol with eGaming and eCommerce/eBetting platforms.
2. Problem & Solution
The problem
ValoraFutbol was born because football’s overall performance is currently difficult to measure:
- Common stats such as goals, assists, distance, etc. do not necessarily provide a true assessment of the actual performance on the field
- Subjective media leads to limited and sometimes biased views from journalists and editors
- Currently no reference site that gathers a standardized performance record of football players, managers and referees based on sentiment
- No platform that gives a voice to fans and that shares ratings of the performance of teams or individuals during games in real time
- Insufficient ‘balanced’ data points to challenge the views of football agents, football clubs and football fans regarding the true performance (and market value) of players
The solution
valorafutbol.com… A web-based platform that enables thousands of fans and football enthusiasts to rate players, managers and referees based on the opinion of their performance in a competition:
- Leverage the “rating” trend and be recognized as a source of unbiased information. Football currently lags behind in this “democratic voting” system despite being one of the most socially debated topics around the world
- Develop standard user-generated-rankings based on the ratings from experts (editors, journalists, former players…) and from football fans combined
- Foster a social interaction through the sharing of ratings, rankings and other relevant content.
- Enable gamification – users compete with other fans and experts to win prizes through a new football eco-system “Rate. Share. Win!”
- Convert user-generated ratings into performance rankings for football players, managers and referees in any football competition around the world
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
With ValoraFutbol we target all football fans around the world. We are talking of 3.5 billion.
Right now, the ValoraFutbol Project is internationally expanding, closing deals in different countries such as Spain, UAE, Mexico, South Africa, Ecuador or USA.
We have become already in the reference site for user-generated football performance rankings globally, but we want more.
In our 2nd stage of expansion we are going to jump into another massive sports such as Cricket, American football, baseball or hockey among others. We already have offers to start with those Sports in different parts of the world.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
We provide a high value-add to all football stakeholders such as Clubs, Leagues, Football Associations, Media, eCommerce, eBetting, eGaming platforms and Brands.
Clubs, Leagues and Football Associations want to be closer to their fans and want to know them better, so we sell them the integration our platform into their website/apps…etc.
Media want to innovate and keep their audience engage and attack new ones from the competitors. This new and funny way to interact with the audience can be key into the new tech era. More interaction and more revenues from sponsors. Ideal scenario for them.
eCommerce, eBetting and eGaming platforms want to attract and retain new consumers so the see the ecosystem “Rate, Play, Share & Win” as ideal to get close to build customer loyalty.
Regarding brands, they want to get to the right costumers and we offer them to leverage sport branding promotion by micro-targeting consumer preferences in real time.
5. Management Team – with titles
Borja Burguillos – Chairman and Co-Founder
Javier Montero – CEO and Co-Founder
Raul Matallanos – Head of IT and Co-Founder
Xavi Anglada – Shareholder and Head of Strategy
Ferran Martinez – Shareholder and Head of Strategic Alliances
Peter Lejre – Shareholder and Head of Finances
Gonzalo Gete – Head of Digital Marketing & Product
6. What else do you want the audience to know about your venture?
Valora Digital just closed agreements with several international media groups such as Cadena SER from PRISA Group (Spain), Sport360 (Dubai, UAE) or Sphera Sports (Spain) to integrate ValoraFutbol as their official rating and gamification platform along the EuroCup2016. More agreements with Sport media and largest TV operators around the world has been closed for football season 16-17.
Valora Digital has been selected as one of most promising digital startups in sport tech field in the largest startup conferences in the world such as CollisionConf in US and WebSummit in Europe. The project raised high expectations and attracted the interest of largest TV operators, social media platforms, sports clubs and well-known investors.