SA entrepreneur’s football fan startup scores a cool US$2.4m in funding

You don’t really have to know all that much about football to know that it’s seriously big business. Some of the figures nonetheless remain mind boggling. Manchester United and Real Madrid each sell around 1.4-million replica jerseys a year, netting them hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Add in stuff like season ticket sales, match day programmes and paid appearances and you can see why anyone able to tap into the sport’s rabid fandom stands to win big.

Enter Fanmode. The app, built by South African-born entrepreneur Nevan Murugan aims to make the world a stadium for sports fans and has just raised a fresh funding round of US$2.4-million.

Fanmode allows fans to share their emotions during the game with fellow fans around the world, creating graphical representation of sentiment data that can be integrated onto stadium screens, broadcast and online.

For example, fans can ‘high-five’ each other, wave a flag, cheer their team on and shout – all in the comfort of their living room. Smartphones and wearable devices connected with Fanmode via iOS and Android apps register this input and share the data with fans in the stadium and even the players on the pitch via big screens.

The company also plans to augment this in the future with Fanmode-ready wearable devices and a custom platform developed on the principles of the Internet of Things (IOT) and massively distributed real-time participation for sports fans during live events.

The iOS and Android apps consist of three separate services — Vibecast lets users broadcast their support for their team to the entire world via gestures — clapping, cheering or waving their flag. Vibelink offers users one-on-one and group chats with other users, while Vibestream offers live updates on notable events in the game.

“Fan engagement with sporting events has traditionally been limited to those actually at the event itself. But with major sporting events there are millions of fans around the world who want to feel like part of the action and have their voice heard,” says Murugan. “Fanmode is a service that lets fans broadcast their support into live games in real-time, using the technology at their fingertips.”

The funding round, which was led by Fanmode co-founder and commercial director Christian Jochnick, saw the company attract investment from South African and Swedish angels.

To date the Fanmode team has been concentrating on building its platform with support from Wembley Stadium and developing relationships with organisations linked to the sports industry — such as Deloitte’s Sports Business Group and premium sport business group, Leaders — as well as football clubs in Europe’s top divisions including the Barclays Premier League and Spain’s premier league, Liga BBVA. The platform is currently in beta and a full launch is planned later this year.