It’s hard finding the right sports buddy (Or, well…the right Racket Pal). 

Imagine you’re a tennis enthusiast, and you’ve just moved to a new city. You’re itching to play, but there’s a catch – finding a partner who matches your skill level and is nearby can be like finding a needle in a haystack. The market is fragmented, and the challenge of location and skill compatibility is real. We’ve all been there, asking around in local clubs or posting on community boards, only to end up playing with someone way out of our league (either too good or… well, not quite there yet). The experience might be good but as an amateur player you need to evolve and get better at the sport you love so much.  

We’re not racket sports players ourselves. We understand the pains of amateur sports players trying to find the right partner for their games but we needed to dig deeper. To do this we organized interviews ourselves with tennis players in our area.  

From our own research, we did find out that all of the players want to play with someone with the same skill level, in order to improve their practice. Most said that they would hire a coach and that is difficult to connect and chat with partners through a multitude of disconnected channels. Because of this, they do miss some games. Booking courts is stressful and there is a lot of friction before they actually get together to play.  

Here comes RacketPal 

Enter RacketPal. They were on a mission to build this highly engaged online racket sports community where skill levels are recalibrated after each match. So, not only do you find a partner, but you also get a dynamic platform that evolves with you as you improve.  

Robert and Bogdan didn’t just build the “Tinder for Racket Sports Players”, they’ve built THE go-to app for UK’s players, coaches, courts, clubs, and other service providers for the industry (e.g. racket stringers) As they scaled, they added multiple features including the possibility for players to organize leagues and extended features for clubs, coaches, and stringers allowing them to easily engage their members and to promote their services to thousands of sports enthusiasts. Basically, their platform managed to solve all the pain points that we uncovered during our own research.  

A big market with not that many competitors 

Now, let’s talk numbers. There are a whopping 6 million racket sports players in the UK. Half of them are active players. That’s 3 million potential RacketPal users right there! And with the sports industry raking in a cool 100 million dollars in revenue, the potential is massive. 

There are competitors, of course. While many provide the option of finding sports buddies and booking venues or coaches, they do lack other essential features: most do not have a chat option, the skill level is only declared by the player while RacketPal uses AI to detect and update the evolution in real-time. Most don’t keep their users engaged and RacketPal seems to be the only one with significant user growth and traction.  

Why now?

The current zeitgeist is all about convenience and personalization. Sports enthusiasts are no different. They’re actively seeking solutions to find sports buddies nearby who not only match their skill level but also vibe with their personality. And here’s a fun fact: studies have shown that those who train with buddies tend to stick with their fitness routines longer, feel more motivated, and overall lead healthier lives. It’s a win-win-win! 

 The team behind RacketPal 

Remember the Founder-Market fit that we mentioned in the beginning? RacketPal boasts founders with a sports background (they’ve been in those shoes, remember?) and a tech-heavy squad that ensures the platform is top-notch. Plus, they’ve got some stellar advisors and investors on board, which always adds that cherry on top.