Taking Soccer Gaming into the Future: Why We Invested in Matchday
Our latest investment, the gaming startup Matchday, is a remarkable combination of entrepreneurial strengths and personal affinities: the product taps into Moonshots Capital’s strong network in the Web 3 space — as well as my experience in the gaming industry and my personal love of soccer.
Matchday is the first-ever licensed blockchain and NFT project built in partnership with the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO), which puts 65,000 soccer players on the blockchain, starting with games. Matchday aims to provide fans with a personalized and interactive experience through its mobile app, which features games, real-time match updates, exclusive content, and social features that allow soccer fans to connect with each other and with their favorite teams and players.
Underpinning this extraordinary product is — you guessed it! — a truly extraordinary leadership team. Matchday was founded in 2021 by Derrick Ko, Razmig Hovaghimian, and Sebastien de Halleux. Derrick has a background in founding, building and exiting technology companies, having previously founded Spin, which he exited to Ford for $100M. Razmig is former Founder & CEO of three companies: Viki, Pixel Labs, and Embrace. Viki, an international streaming site, was acquired by Rakuten, and Pixel Labs (a.k.a. Hoodline), was a local news platform that combined machine learning with on-the-ground reporting, was acquired by Nextdoor. Sebastien has a proven track record of success in the gaming industry. He previously co-founded Playfish as the COO, a casual gaming platform, which he grew to over 55 million MAU before selling the company to Electronic Arts for (up to) $400 million. Together, the three co-founders bring a unique blend of technology, gaming industry, and entrepreneurial expertise to the Matchday team.
Sebastien and my co-founder at Moonshots Capital, Craig Cummings, are Henry Crown Fellow classmates and have become friends over the years. When Sebastien reached out to us and described the Matchday vision it resonated deeply with me on a few levels. I built two different fan-based sports platforms as a senior operator: Brian Johnson’s eTeamz, an amateur sports platform that we sold to Active Networks, and ProElite, an MMA fight and amateur sports platform that we took public via a reverse merger and partnered with CBS. I was also a Seed angel investor and advisor to Scopely — a company that just announced one of the largest exits in gaming at $4.9 billion — back when major “offline” franchises, from Scrabble to Star Trek, were still only beginning to understand the potential of casual gaming. I understand the challenges and opportunities in this type of business, and I’m excited to help these amazing founders take gaming even further as the world transitions into Web3.
I’m also personally connected to the sport: as a proud father of a budding footballer (@grantperdew10 on IG), I’ve spent the last seven years traveling to Europe and have witnessed many of the issues Matchday looks to solve at the club level, have seen firsthand the near-religious fervor surrounding the sport, and I have gotten to know some of the industry players as well.
The company’s use of gamification as part of its monetization strategy is strengthened by incorporating NFTs: unique digital assets that can be bought, sold, and traded, enhancing the fan experience and engagement, and creating added revenue streams. They offer fans the ability to purchase tickets, merchandise, and other products directly through the app, creating a seamless and convenient experience for fans, players, clubs, and leagues.
Ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Matchday has released its first game, eagerly anticipated by 1M+ signed up fans and 50K+ social media followers. Matchday Challenge is a casual trivia game where players test their knowledge of soccer, learn more about the sport, and compete with friends to win cards.
Matchday enters the mobile gaming market with a marketing superpower: it is the first venture of the legendary soccer player Lionel Messi, who can seriously impact the trajectory of the company as an active investor. Through Messi’s outstanding brand recognition, Matchday will tap into the 5 billion soccer fans worldwide, and his involvement is a strong endorsement of Matchday’s potential to execute on its vision of transforming the way fans engage with their favorite teams.
The world soccer market is a massive and rapidly growing industry, with an estimated global fan base of over 5 billion people. According to a recent report by Deloitte, the top 20 soccer clubs alone generate over €9 billion in revenue. While the largest clubs have embraced some new technologies and understand that their fan base is worldwide, the industry as a whole is famous for being slow to embrace change and technology. This presents a massive opportunity for Matchday to disrupt the traditional ways in which fans consume soccer content and engage with their favorite players, clubs, and leagues across the world, regardless of geographic proximity. Investing in startups that tackle complex problems in large markets is a key part of Moonshots Capital’s investment thesis, and Matchday’s ambition to transform audience engagement with the world’s most popular sport is perfectly aligned with our goal.
Moonshots was proud to join Matchday’s round led by Play Time Ventures. The company is also backed by A’Z Angels, Greylock, Hack VC, Capricorn Investment Group, Courtside Ventures, and Horizons Ventures. Matchday’s innovative approach to revolutionizing the soccer fan experience, combined with the founders’ industry expertise and backing from notable investors speaks to its potential to reshape the world of sports fandom. We couldn’t be more excited to help these extraordinary founders succeed!
Moonshots Capital is a veteran-founded venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups with extraordinary leaders.
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