Adidas’ founder accelerator helps Pitz expand amateur football league platform to Europe

Contxto – Pitz, the platform that enhances the amateur soccer industry, just announced some big news over a press release. International players will now be able to enjoy a digitized gaming experience whenever the step into the field.

Smartest money

Germany’s famous sports media outlet SPORT1 and leAD Sports Accelerator, the program belonging to Adidas founder Adi Dassler’s grandsons, invited Pitz to take part in its most recent batch for worldwide sports-tech startups.

We previously covered Pitz but here’s a refresher. The startup founded in Silicon Valley by Mexican entrepreneurs is already providing an intermediary platform for more than 23 thousand amateur football teams to better manage their leagues and matches. 

With this, the Dassler family will officially join the Mexican app’s cap table. Although the investment remained undisclosed, we know it was a later-stage deal than they usually do. The amount will be revealed during the November 30th Demo Day.

Around 340 tech companies applied to the program for which only 25 finalists were invited to be interviewed in Berlin, Germany.

More than 60 investment, sports, marketing, finance and business experts interviewed these founding teams. In the end, only five were chosen to be part of the third generation of the program. Pitz being one of them. Congrats, guys! This is impressive.

Since 2016, Pitz has also been expanding. Although 90 percent of its users reside in Mexico, around 10 percent are in the United States, Argentina, as well as Colombia.

Get ready for the international leagues

Similar to a Mexican soccer player migrating to a European soccer club, Pitz is now entering the big international leagues. Considering that leAD is one of the most renowned sports-tech accelerators, this is certainly a milestone worth covering.

leAD’s support is crucial yet its huge network of mentors is one of the most important values of the program. These included executives from UEFA, FIFA, in addition to other world-famous brands in the sports industry.

Now, let’s remember business is not pure altruism. These brands also saw something important for their advantage within Pitz’ business model.

The startup’s main monetization strategy is targeting a specific niche of football aficionados who are willing to purchase goods and services related to their frustration of not becoming a professional player. In this sense, brands can communicate and reach this market via Pitz with its highly-engaging and friendly channel. 

With Pitz entrance into the German market, companies wanting to sponsor amateur players will be able to showcase their offerings and strengthen their brand presence in Latin America. Based on the recent development, now this possibility is available in Europe, too.

Lastly, when Pitz closes its next funding round to launch in Asia, the accelerator has already committed to joining. 

It seems like Pitz’s operations are about to get as solid as Ochoa’s goalkeeping skills.

-VC