Wingfield receives Series A financing
The Hanover-based startup Wingfield has completed a Series A financing round of four million euros and wants to make more tennis courts in Europe smart with its "Wingfield Box" and expand into the US market. One of the investors: Hannover Beteiligungsfonds GmbH (HBF) from hannoverimpuls.
Players can't have their eyes everywhere on the court - but Wingfield can! The installation consisting of two cameras and a processor unit is revolutionizing the sport of tennis. With the help of artificialintelligence and innovative image processing software,the boxisable to track and evaluate a wide range of data from a tennis match, turning normal tennis courts into digital smart courts andproviding the results conveniently via an app. Over 250 clubs and more than 20,000 players are already using this completely new type of coaching. With the Series A financing round, in which the Hanover-based start-up raised four million euros, the two former tennis pros Maik Burlage and Jaan Brunken now want to expand into the US market. While the existing group of investors around the Hannover Beteiligungsfonds from hannoverimpuls, leAD Sports and Health-Tech-Partner had already participated in the round in advance in 2021, the round has now been closed under the leadership of other investors such as bmp Ventures with the IBG fund and Adesso Ventures.
TheHBFinvests seed, venture and growth capital in innovative technology-oriented start-ups in the Hannover Region on behalf of hannoverimpuls, using funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In addition to the capital, HBF also offers excellent access to the capital market and a wide range of support through the external professional and long-standing fund manager EnjoyVenture: "The successful Series A financing round underlines Wingfield's convincing, innovative concept. With the fresh money, the two founders can continue to write their success story and implement the next milestones - expansion in Europe and the USA," says Reinhard Hinrichs, Managing Director of HBF for the Hanover-based start-up.
Wingfield also wants to further optimize the product experience for users with the fresh money.Maik Burlage, founder and CEO of Wingfield: "We have used the last two years to greatly improve our products and enter into important partnerships, such as with the German Tennis Federation. However, we are only at the beginning of our journey. Despite the impact that COVID-19 has had on our industry, the last two years have shown that there is a huge demand for our products."
Tennis is currently experiencing a positive growth trend -and Germany is no exception. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the German Tennis Federation (DTB) is recording rising membership figures for the first time since 1995.
Founded at the end of 2017 and launched in early 2019, Wingfield has become the European market leader for tracking technology in tennis and is now active in 16 countries. In addition, leading racket and apparel brands worldwide use Wingfield's data to test or demonstrate new product lines.
Well-known names such as the RafaNadal Academy andthe QueensClub in Londonare among Wingfield's customers. In 2019, Wingfield was already in action on the grass courts of the renowned All England Club in Wimbledon during the "Road to Wimbledon" junior tournament. Back in 2018, Wingfield won the main prize in the start-up competition organized by hannoverimpuls and Sparkasse Hannover.
Hannover Beteiligungsfonds GmbH
Vahrenwalderstrasse7, 30165 Hanover
E-Mail:reinhard.hinrichs@invest-impuls.de
Phone: +49 511 300 33321
https://www.wirtschaftsfoerderung-hannover.dedocument:1062
EnjoyVenture Management GmbH
Elberfelder Straße 2, 40213 Düsseldorf
E-Mail:info@enjoyventure.vc
Phone: +49 (0)211 239 551 70
Wingfield GmbH
Maik Burlage and Jaan Brunken
Oeltzenstraße 13, 30169 Hanover
E-Mail:info@my-wingfield.com
www.wingfield.io