Clubforce, the Galway-based sports participation software company, has this morning announced plans to double its workforce following a €2.5m investment in the business.
A long time member of Sport for Business Clubforce, originally known as My Club Finances, has been to the fore in developing software that enables sports clubs and sporting organisation manage a range of services from membership and payments to communications and club lotteries. It has been a real success story and this latest chapter is built on the foundations of doing a good job.
This expanded workforce of 40 members of staff will be spread between its Galway and UK offices and will allow Clubforce to accelerate delivery of an ambitious product roadmap.
This will see the existing club management system evolve into a complete sports participation system, which will transform how club members, sports clubs and their governing bodies interact with each other.
The new investment comes as Clubforce finished 2020 strongly with unprecedented demand for new and better technology solutions from sports club volunteers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sports organisations were already feeling a certain level of strain before the pandemic struck.” CEO Warren Healy told us this morning.
“Grassroots sport relies heavily on volunteers, who tend to be time-poor and the pandemic has made the role far more challenging. Our plan is to provide these volunteers with a significant number of additional tools to simply make their roles easier.”
“We know that volunteer tasks are an increasing challenge and we’re helping sports clubs to solve these challenges. The volunteers are the fulcrum around which everything else rotates in amateur sports.”
Healy pointed out that most of the heavy lifting on the fundraising round was driven by the company Chief Financial Officer, Carole Neylon and the existing board.
“The funds will allow Clubforce to deliver on the vision of the company which is to bring participation management to the core of its product and to continue its international expansion from the Galway base,” she said.
“While the product will be expanding significantly in its reach, the volunteer in these sports organisations will always be core to all of the product development.”
“Demand across the country, and overseas, has gone through the roof in recent months because of good marketing, good product and the effects of the pandemic. The investment and ongoing recruitment drive will give us everything we need to develop a world class product for our loyal and increasing customer base.”
The investment also sees a significant addition to the board as Noel Murray, former Head of Operations – Japan and Asia with Microsoft, is set to re-enter the fray of business as Chairman of the board at Clubforce.
Sport for Business Partners
