Last 8th October Red Circle Investments, the holding company of the Rosso family entered with a 15% share in the capital of Fubles, the Milan-based startup, that in a few years has become a reference for those who want to organize and play their football games. Indeed, Fubles.com is a Sport Sharing platform that most efficiently helps you organize amateur sport matches of all types. So far one of the most active community for pick-up games and the dynamism of the social network for soccer lovers matches with the values of the investment fund of the Rosso family, which owns the brand Diesel. The numbers testify the growth of start-up that now counts more than 300,000 players and more than 70,000 games played mainly in Italy. The goal is not only to increase the number of users in the Italy, but also to export the passion for football abroad, considered that football is the most practiced sport worldwide and that the majority of games are played in fields which are smaller the those for football games with 11 players, and therefore there is no necessity to create a new need but just to export a "new way" to satisfy this need.
Oh the amount of the deal there is utmost discretion. In 2011 the company raised €300k in angel funding,
from Elserino Piol (Pino Partecipazioni), Oliver Novick, Carmine Giangiulio (manager at Unicredit Bank), Marco Magnocavallo (Founder at Boox) and Giannandrea Cherubini (Managing Director at Davis&Morgan - Merchant Bank S.p.A).
The entry of Red Circle Investments marks an important moment for the project. At the capital increase has already taken part also H-Farm, the well-known incubator from Treviso - that invests in digital businesses - to which could be added in the coming days also other private investors, considered the high number of players and the market size, offering thus high potentials. "Fubles is the solution to an extremely common need for those who play soccer: organizing games easily and fast, and then go out and devote oneself to the challenge.You just need to register, select a city, see which games are going to be played and confirm the participation" said Giuseppe De Giorgi, co-founder of Fubles. "We are proud to be able to create a service that is now used daily by thousands of people. With the support of Red Circle Investments with count on expanding our network and make life easier and more funny for those who want to play sports."
In the new Board of Directors of Fubles enters Stefano Rosso - second-born of the founder of the italian fashion brand Diesel - who for some time has been an active user of the Fubles community: "I discovered Fubles thanks to my colleagues who organized football games of our company using this platform. I then had the opportunity to meet the team who runs it and I fell in love with the project. From technology and sport enthusiasts, it came us natural to decide to join in" said the investor.
"With the new version released in the recent days also in English and Spanish, we are ready to strengthen the expansion abroad where our special recipe for football is already picking up its first admirers," says Mirko Trasciatti, co-founder of Fubles, noting how the first contact with Stefano Rosso took place right in a soccer field during a game organized within the walls of his company. No doubt that the core business is football, but also other sports lend themselves to be organized and played through the formula of the web community.
About Fubles:
Fubles is a web social network that provides an innovative solution for specific needs of sport events and groups, was founded on the initiative of a group of young people who, realizing the potential of the project, they decide to leave everything to turn a passion into a real startup. The company is led three co-founders Giuseppe De Giorgi, Stefano Rodriguez and Mirko Trasciatti (CEO) which work together with a team composed by of a dozen boys of average age of 30 who are dedicated to product development and of the community . Of the co-founders, one has left his job at Buongiorno Spa, and the other left the university promising his mother the soon or later he will graduate.
About Red Circle Investments:
Red Circle Investments is the holding company of the Rosso family, led by Diesel CEO Renzo Rosso. Rosso's first investment through the holding company was made in March 2009, when he purchased 4.9% of the stocks in Yoox, an online mail-retailer of multi-brand clothing. In the spring of 2011 he increased its share to 6%. In April 2011, Red Circle Investments purchased a 20% stake of the start-up incubator H-Farm representing the first investment made by an italian businessman from the fashion industry who chose to invest in the seed and and early stage space.
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