The Bvddy iOS app matches up sports buddies; funding will help fuel national expansion.
By Nancy Dahlberg / @ndahlberg
Bvddy, an iOS app that enables sports players to connect with sports partners, announced that it has closed $1.5 million in seed capital to expand into new cities. The funding is led by Latin American IDC Group and former BlueKite CEO and current PayPal executive Bobby Aitkenhead, Bvddy said.
Bvddy (formerly called SportsBuddy, which launched in January 2015) features proprietary Smart Matching algorithms that learn about players over time, including how often they play, location, actual skill level, punctuality, and competitive spirit, to provide the most accurate matches. Prior to closing its seed round, the company said it raised $715,000 in angel financing to develop its technology and test the concept within the sports community.
“It’s a significant challenge for adult sports players to find other people to play the sports they love with, and it can be particularly hard to find others at the same level of skill and experience,” said Bvddy founder and CEO Pedro Ast, an avid tennis player, in the press release. “Bvddy was created to solve this problem.”
How Bvddy works: Once users have downloaded the app and created a profile, they can then search for other people to play specific sports with based on location, skill level, and other criteria. Users can communicate with other players, schedule times and locations to play, review skills, as well as find local venues. They also can discover activities, create public or private sporting events, and rate opponents.
Expansion plans include Bvddy’s launch on Android, as well as in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities in 2016, Ast said.