Former football coach’s Belfast business venture announces 75 new jobs

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

A Belfast sports company has announced a multimillion-pound funding boost, creating more than 70 jobs.

TeamFeePay was founded by former Cliftonville, Linfield and Ballyclare coach Liam McStravick, to help grassroots football clubs save time on administrative tasks, such as collecting fees from players before training.

The company developed a software platform that helps coaches and clubs to plan fixtures, training sessions and events, track attendance and manage admin tasks, enabling coaches to keep teams organised but stay focused on coaching.

TeamFeePay, which currently supports more than 1,500 clubs and almost 300,000 users, will use the new investment to grow across the UK, aiming to expand into Europe and fund new product development.

Over the next two years we will be putting more boots on the ground, investing in new technology and continuing to improve the service and club development support our expert team provides

Mr McStravick thanked investors for helping him on his “mission to transform the business end of grassroots football across the UK, Ireland and across Europe by offering a better way to reduce administration and increase club income”.

He said: “Over the next two years we will be putting more boots on the ground, investing in new technology and continuing to improve the service and club development support our expert team provides.

“We’ve been recognised as one of Ireland’s fastest growing companies in the Deloitte Fast 50 and as we look forward to TeamFeePay’s next phase of growth.”

The £9m (€10.36m) funding round has been led by a £4.5m (€5.18m) investment from YFM Equity Partners and £3m (€3.45m) by the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland (IFNI) equity fund, managed by Clarendon Fund Managers.

It also includes an £800,000 (€920,000) investment from Techstart and £700,000 (€805,000) from private investors.

Mike Clarke, partner at YFM Equity Partners, said: “We are excited to make this £4.5m growth investment into TeamFeePay, to help an innovative company scale and move into new markets while enhancing the service it offers to existing customers.

“This investment is further evidence of YFM’s commitment to supporting ambitious businesses in Northern Ireland.”