Additional investment enables scaling for Futchi
2015-12-04
Aracne AB, the company behind Futchi, have completed a seed round. Of the 2,5 MSEK, Chalmers Ventures has invested 1 MSEK. The money is to be used for scaling sales and building the sport says CEO Daniel Dahlén when we meet at Stena Center.
Futchi is a new addictive sport that combines football and squash. It is played with a device called the Futchi rebounder, a customized game court and a football. The Futchi rebounder can be used in both outdoor and indoor locations.
They sold out their first batch in Sweden and are now heading for the European market, with Germany as an important country to target in 2016. Parallell to these activities, the company has also signed a licence deal with a partner in the US.
The players are mainly children between 10-15 years of age with an interest in football. Their parents are supportive of a fun and healthy outdoor activity which keeps their children occupied for hours, says Daniel with a smile.
The rebounder also comes with an app for enhancing the game with ranking, and a new release is due in April. And as of today, two new ambassadors are signed on for promoting Futchi in social media channels. World top ranked football freestylers Philip Warren Gertsson (PWGfreestyle) and Viktor Olofson (VLOfreestyle) will be endorsing the game on Instagram, and Daniel believes it will be a good way to engage new players.
In addition to this they are also attending the world´s largest sports fair, ISPO, in Munich. That’s where we can meet new distributors, retailers and partners, says Daniel, who was there last year as finalist in ISPO´s innovation competition, the Brand New Award. There they had an great interest in Futchi from all over the world.
Now they are more mature as a company, with a solid product range and ready to scale. The goal is to become a new globally played sport. As more crossover sports are hitting the market Futchi has the advantage of being a form of the highly beloved football, which makes their goal sound possible!