The Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB) has expanded its portfolio of start-up investments by teaming up with CeleBreak, a Catalan company that, under the tagline Play whenever and wherever you want, has developed an app that is used to find players and venues for football matches.
CeleBreak functions as a meeting point for amateur football; a global community where everyone can find their place, with all the elements required to be able to enjoy an innovative football experience that solves such common issues as not having a team to play for, not having anyone to go in goal or not having a pitch.
This app, created in 2020, offers four modes: women’s, men’s and mixed football, as well as futsal. Users also get the chance to join training sessions, tournaments and leagues. The system is up and running in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga and Valencia, as well as Frankfurt and Munich in Germany, and in the last 12 months more than 30,000 people have used it to play football. Since its creation the app has made possible more than 35,000 matches on over 50 different pitches.
CeleBreak and BIHUB will be joining forces to develop innovative experiences that build football communities around the world, emphasising the women’s game and the power of sport to foster socialisation and healthy lifestyles. The two organisations will also be working together to validate new business models that can foster the growth of the company and at the same time make the logistics of amateur sport so much simpler and more inspiring for its participants.
Moreover, Barça Academy coaches will also be occasionally contributing their knowledge to support some of the CeleBreak teams, and FC Barcelona members and fans will be encouraged to use the app to arrange their own games.
The CeleBreak community also offers the opportunity to be part of the project itself by investing in the company through Crowdcube. This not only drives the shared mission of transforming amateur football, but also means that anyone can become part of the growth and success of this innovative platform.
CeleBreak, fourth start-up after Visualfy, OLIVER and Onalabs
CeleBreak is the fourth start-up that BIHUB has invested in, following on from the announcement, in recent months, of its interests in Visualfy, OLIVER and Onalabs. The first of these is a company that works to promote accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing. The second is a solution that makes data management accessible to grassroots sports clubs seeking to boost athletic performance. And the third is developing a device for measuring biometric parameters through sweat.
Visualfy has already applied its technology to the OAB offices at Spotify Camp Nou. OLIVER has taken its first steps in the blaugrana universe by applying its solution to some of the club’s youth teams, and Onalabs has started testing its device at the club.
Barça, right at the forefront of innovation
For a few months now, the Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB) has been successfully exploring a new strategic line to support entrepreneurial talent in the sports sector, which has materialised by becoming a shareholder of several start-ups that offer bold products and value services.
The main objective of these investments is to extend the club’s drive to innovate in an environment where emerging companies are able to adapt high-potential technologies and solutions much faster than large companies can. The club, in exchange, offers its main brand assets, its know-how and access to its athletes and facilities, thus forging new synergies with its stakeholders.
The new portfolio of start-ups that BIHUB is creating has positioned the club at the very forefront of the transformation of sport and has helped put the Barça name at the service of the diversification of the Catalan economic fabric. On a nationwide level, it is allowing Barcelona and Catalonia to develop an added-value economy that promotes local talent and also attracts global ones.
Statement by Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona:
“FC Barcelona is proud to support start-ups in the world of sport through the shareholder programme that we are running through BIHUB. The expansion of this initiative is a club strategy that is helping us to create new ways to interact with fans and participate in the digital transformation of sport from a prime position. By becoming a shareholder in Celebreak, BIHUB is connecting us with the amateur and collaborative side of the football world, which helps cover needs that any amateur player might have experienced.”
Statement by Daniel Foth, founder and CEO of CeleBreak:
“Since my childhood, football has been the most effective method in my life to meet other people. When you’re little it's easy: you go outside with a ball, meet other kids, make friends and start playing. As an adult, it’s a bit harder, but football’s power to bring people together is still unrivalled around the world. That’s how CeleBreak came about, from the simple desire to make new friends and play my favourite sport when I arrived in Barcelona from Germany. That’s how one of my favourite clubs now supports this crazy idea of an app that me and my brother had... I could say it’s a dream come true, but that would be an understatement. The whole team is beyond excitement about this opportunity and we’re looking forward to working even harder to take CeleBreak, and the power of football to connect people, to an even wider audience, now with the incredible support of everyone at FC Barcelona and the Barça Innovation Hub”.
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