Sports Coaching Company Receives Funding
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based bookacoach has completed a $250,000 round of funding, led by Elevate Ventures as well as investors in Washington D.C. and North Carolina. The company helps connect coaches with families looking for sports instruction.
January 16, 2014
News Release
Indianapolis, Ind. — bookacoach (www.bookacoach.com), an online service marketplace for sports lessons in the U.S., today announced that it has raised $250k in venture capital financing, bringing total investments into the company to $450k. Elevate Ventures of Indianapolis co-led the round along with existing investors based in Washington, DC and Greensboro, NC. Elevate Ventures' investment was made through the Indiana Angel Network Fund, a seed and early-stage co-investment program under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative in partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
Kevin MacCauley, bookacoach Founder and CEO said, “This round of financing allows our team to build channels for accessing more users while expanding new features that our team firmly believes will add significant value in the sports coaching space.”
In addition to the financing, Kelly Schwedland of Elevate Ventures recently joined bookacoach's Board of Directors to support the startup's aggressive market strategy and revenue targets. “bookacoach is a great example of a team that has tested and pivoted to find a business model that works,” said Schwedland. “I'm excited to be a part of the next phase of their iteration and growth as they continue to add value for their users.”
Funds from this round will support expanding the service to more coaches and parents nationally and product development to build on current feature sets for all users. bookacoach is expected to announce the launch of the next version of its online service in Q1 of this year.
“In addition to an expansion in our development efforts, the capital allows us to further evaluate key metrics behind our business in an effort to better understand what our customers want and how to deliver on those needs for them,” said Chief Revenue Officer, Myles Grote.
bookacoach, the destination for sports lessons, offers a set of online tools that simplifies the booking, scheduling, and athlete feedback development aspects of sports instruction. Instruction ranges from individual lessons to small groups and clinics. The service is free to coaches while parents pay a booking fee when purchasing instructional sessions. All coaches must undergo the bookacoach background check, repeated annually. The process was developed with the guidance and support of local law enforcement and consists of a national, state and county level background check.
About Elevate Ventures
Elevate Ventures is a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-potential businesses into high-performing, Indiana-based companies. Elevate Ventures accomplishes this by providing access to capital, rigorous business analysis and robust advisory services that connect companies with the right mix of resources businesses need to succeed long-term. As a not-for-profit organization, Elevate Ventures is able to offer unbiased, in-depth perspective and recommendations. To learn more about Elevate Ventures, its team and its funds under management, visit www.elevateventures.com
About bookacoach
bookacoach is an online destination for sports lessons, connecting safety certified coaches with parents to manage private sports instruction. The distinguishing strength of bookacoach is: every coach must pass an industry-leading safety certi¬fication process in order to earn their BAC Safety Certification. Only then do coaches receive approval to offer their services on bookacoach. To learn more about bookacoach, visit www.bookacoach.com
Source: Elevate Ventures