Bvddy
Connecting People Through Sports.
Bvddy, founded in 2014 by former professional tennis player Pedro Ast, was a mobile platform designed to connect individuals for participation in sports. The inspiration for the company stemmed from Ast's own difficulty in finding partners for a tennis match at a similar skill level. Initially launched as SportsBuddy in January 2015, the application rebranded and operated as a smart-matching, location-based service for the sports community.
The business operated through an iOS application that allowed users to find and connect with other sports players. The service utilized proprietary algorithms that factored in user-specified criteria like location and skill level, but also learned over time by analyzing data such as frequency of play, punctuality, and competitive spirit to refine its matchmaking accuracy. Users could create profiles, search for opponents for over 70 different sports, communicate via private chat, schedule games, and rate each other post-match. The platform also enabled the discovery and creation of public or private sporting events.
Bvddy's business model was focused on user growth and was pre-revenue, offering its services for free. The company secured a total of $2.215 million in financing, including an initial $715,000 in angel funding, followed by a significant seed round of $1.5 million on June 22, 2016. This seed round was led by the Latin American investment firm Grupo IDC and Bobby Aitkenhead, a former CEO of BlueKite and a PayPal executive. Despite its initial funding and expansion plans, the company is now considered deadpooled, as it failed to attract a sufficiently large and active user base to sustain its operations.
Keywords: sports matchmaking, find sports partners, recreational sports app, player discovery platform, sports social network, amateur sports, local sports events, opponent rating, athletic networking, sports buddy finder, Pedro Ast, skill-based matching, sports scheduling tool, location-based sports, deadpooled startup, mobile sports app, tennis partner app, soccer meetup, basketball pickup games, fitness community