Unique Digital Football Business Dugout Announces New £8.275 Million ($11.685 Million) Investment

     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/683086/Dugout_Phone.jpg )

Dugout represents the first time the world's biggest clubs have joined forces to create a business - with founding partners including AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, Juventus, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid CF, Inter Milan, Roma , Napoli , Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid and more.

All 77 clubs (and a growing number of players) have a dedicated Dugout profile to upload content and interact with fans, meaning that Dugout users get a totally personalised experience based on the clubs and players they follow. The business launched in late 2016 and has already gathered over 67 million unique users and 912 million video views to date. Dugout has a social footprint of 2.1 billion and over 12,500 videos have been posted on the platform by clubs, players and brands.

Today, Dugout has announced an additional £8.275 million investment led by renowned US entrepreneurs David and Frank McCourt , alongside a number of other strategic smaller-scale investors. The £8.275 million investment reflects the rapid growth of the business and its expanding network of partners across football, business, media, technology and brand advertising. 

David McCourt , founder and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital, the worldwide investors in technology, media and telecommunications, is one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. David is also the founder of ALTV.com, one of the fastest growing free streaming services in the MENA region. His brother, Frank, is Chairman and CEO of McCourt LP and McCourt Global, and well known to sports fans as the owner of Olympique De Marseille and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Dugout has recently announced a number of other strategic partnerships designed to support the business' objective of expanding its global presence. For example, in December Dugout launched a partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) - boosting the brand's global profile and tapping into the growing popularity of football in North America. Today's announcement highlights the company's focus on MENA, although Dugout is expected to make further announcements in the coming weeks about other territories and partnerships.

This approach reflects Dugout's core belief in "localisation of content" - giving partners and brands detailed analytics that enable them to better understand audience behaviour and tastes in specific markets, in order to boost fan engagement and unlock potential.

The company has also signed deals with innovative tech companies like VEWD, SPOTX Rakuten/Viber and Amazon to reach more users and provide brands advertising on the platform with better engagement, cutting-edge user consumer targeting and detailed analytics.

Dugout was initially available in eight languages: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Bahasa (Indonesian), with Arabic to be added in the coming months.

Akira Partners acted as Financial Advisors to Dugout on this transaction.