Saskatoon-based sports administration tech startup TeamLinkt has secured over $6 million USD ($8.3 million CAD) in Series A funding from San Francisco’s Growth Street Partners to boost product development and enhance its customer support team.
“Our vision is to become the first true operating system for youth and amateur sports,” said Jay Maharaj, CEO of TeamLinkt.
TeamLinkt provides software for sports management to aid leagues and clubs with registration, scheduling, communication, and website management. The investment is intended to expand TeamLinkt’s AI, digital fundraising, payment automation, and analytics capabilities, while also supporting growth across North America.
“The funding supports product development, go-to-market efforts, and strategic hiring to help more leagues and clubs automate operations, allowing them to reinvest resources into growth,” Maharaj told BetaKit.
Closing in late July, TeamLinkt’s Series A round raises its total funding to $9.7 million CAD. The company did not disclose its valuation or whether the financing involved debt or secondary capital.
TeamLinkt was founded by the team behind ClientLinkt, which created custom smartphone apps for real estate agents. Seeing a bigger opportunity in youth sports, they shifted focus. The app launched in 2018, and the management platform followed in 2020 to address challenges faced by staff and volunteers in youth sports.
“As a coach and manager of my kids’ teams, it was clear that modern tech was needed in sports at all levels,” Maharaj said.
Currently serving over 3,000 organizations and three million users globally, TeamLinkt supports sports like baseball, basketball, cricket, dance, and more. With over 500,000 monthly active users, TeamLinkt’s clientele includes large governing bodies and small community leagues.
The platform offers player registration, scheduling, team apps, game sheets, and website-building tools. Its AI assistant, Emi, aids in form creation, scheduling, communication, and content, reducing administrative tasks and boosting revenue through sponsorship and fundraising tools.
Offering its software for free, TeamLinkt earns through credit card transaction fees and in-app advertising, while also selling launch packages.
Competing with SportsEngine, TeamSnap, and LeagueApps, TeamLinkt distinguishes itself by providing its platform free to organizations.
Growth Street Partners co-founders Steve Wolfe and Nate Grossman, who are joining TeamLinkt’s board, stated that TeamLinkt offers more revenue potential with less administrative burden than its competitors.
Growth Street Partners supports North American SaaS and tech-enabled services firms with $1 million to $5 million or more in annual recurring revenue. TeamLinkt is the firm’s first Canadian investment, intending to expand its 17-person team to over 50 in the next three to five years through new hires in product and growth roles.
“Our aim is to become youth and amateur sports’ first operating system,” Maharaj said. “We want every organization to access powerful, user-friendly technology, regardless of size or budget.”
Maharaj expects AI to play a significant role, allowing customers to run professional operations without technical expertise.