Sports are more than just a game. With millions of fans and supporters worldwide, doing sports has become a principle of life, whereas the need to make sporting events accessible to all - even more colossal.

Bringing quality sports back in fashion is not easy, considering the technological distractions in existence, but for Pablo Carro and Pedro Claveria, sports have always been a ritualistic way of life.

To allow the world to play sports to its heart’s desire, Pablo and Pedro developed Playtomic, an online booking platform enabling athletes and recreational players to rent out sports courts worldwide.

Born in the heart of quality football, Spain, Playtomic assists ardent players in finding tennis, paddle, golf, and football courts in their vicinity, and finds suitable opponents for single players to play against! Yearning to spread the love for sports in every corner worldwide, here’s how Pablo and Pedro wrote one of the most mission-driven chapters in their lives!

The Game Changers

Both raised in Spain, Pablo Carro and Pedro Claveria had always been taught to live and breathe football. Aside from his love for sports, young Pablo always nourished an interest in entrepreneurship and dreamt of colliding these two worlds in a single career he would both adore and commit to eagerly.

Unsure where the roads of life would take him, Pablo decided to take the traditional route and began studying business at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. After acquiring his Bachelor’s degree in business development, Pablo worked at several companies and tried to gather as much experience as possible.

Pedro Claveria, also a born and raised Spaniard, was fascinated by football and tennis- both successful sports in Spain. Despite his affinity for sports, Pedro didn’t initially believe he could make a career out of it, which is why he chose to study business and marketing at Madrid’s the most prestigious University, ESIC: Business and Marketing School.

While in school, Pedro had the chance to become an exchange student at the Lappeenranta University of Technology of Finland, where he spent a year. Following this unique adventure, Pedro also spent a semester in Fluminese, Brazil, and developed a unique view of the world as a result.

After his escapades, Pedro worked as a community manager and business executive manager at local companies, before calling working for other quits and co-founding his first platform, Global Savings Fund, in 2013.

For the Love of Sports

Pedro first explored the world of startups in greater depth after meeting Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and Felix Ruiz, the founder of Tuenti. Although he had already developed his partner platform, Pedro had always felt unfulfilled and was looking for a way to make sports part of his next ventures.

When Pedro met Pablo, both instantly realized their shared lust for sports, especially tennis and football, and after exchanging ideas, the two decided to bring the best of both worlds - tech and sports - and create a platform that would take people back to the almost nostalgic feeling of doing sports.

Although their idea was almost framed, Pedro and Pablo soon noticed the lack of sporting facilities in Spain. Whilst professional teams had their own training courts and arenas, mere mortals and sports lovers were left without a viable option. This gave Pedro and Pablo the idea of creating the ultimate service-providing platform that would enable sports fanatics worldwide to rent a practice court whenever and wherever they pleased.

In 2017, after much contemplation and debating, Pedro and Pablo launched Playtomic, a platform designated for booking sports arenas worldwide. Aside from just creating a booking app, the duo wanted to create their own Playtomic society, where players would compete against each other through tournaments and organized games.

Although it took Playtomic a while to kick in among eager players, the platform soon received praise for its purpose and at the end of 2017, it witnessed 20,000 app downloads and over 2,000 bookings. If the rules of the game were unclear until then - Pedro and Pablo certainly took it upon themselves to set the record straight!

The Playtomic App

Mainly run through an app, Playtomic provides booking services to willing sportsmen in Spain. The application is available for Android and iPhone users, and it can be found in both stores respectively. Playtomic was created for people who want to occasionally do sports after work, but also professional sportsmen, or anyone interested in spending their time on the court.

Aside from football and paddle, Playtomic offers tennis courts as well, and a line of other experiences that enable players to partake in ongoing tournaments, win prizes and socialize in all the right ways.

Single players who have just registered to the Playtomic app will be connected to opponents worldwide, and it is up to them to choose their rivals. With this, Pedro and Pablo emphasize the importance of sports in socializing, communicating, as well as relaxing.

The Funding

In April 2019, Playtomic raised €6 million from Optimizer Invest and GP Bullhound as investors, and by 2019, it had spread across a handful of markets, including Scandinavia, the Benelux, and Mexico and it is now making a run for the US market, thus owning 1,000 clubs across two continents. In 2020 alone, the company raised €1.7 million in investments.

On July 23, 2020, Playtomic announced the acquisition of an Italian leading company in the sports sector, called PrenotaUnCampo. The company was founded back in 2014 and represents a prime booking platform in Italy, with more than 360,000 users.

The lockdowns and the pandemic were game changers for all sports ventures, especially booking-dependent ones like Playtomic, which caused the company to think ahead of its rivals and make the most of technological advances. Following the break of the COVID- 19 pandemic, Playtomic and its PrenotaUnCampo scored the best platform performance of the month of June 2020.

The platform inventors embrace the opportunity of merging businesses with confidence, noting that Italy falls among the most sports-aware countries worldwide!

Want to Play?

In the days to come, Playtomic aims to become a social network for any sports player all around the world. Although initially based in Spain, the company has ambitiously taken over other prominent markets and plans on further spreading its offices wherever possible. With over 2,500 fields available to book at their designated locations,

Playtomic has proven that bearing a heartfelt mission can sometimes blossom into a practice utterly beloved and demanded by the world of sportsmen and sports laymen. With double the collaboration, efforts, and passion for deporte, Pablo and Pedro reinvented recreational sports and leisure activities by both allowing motivated players to play without limits and asking them one simple question: Jugamos?