Iceland’s Abler enables better togethers, raises €3.7 million

Reykjavik-based Abler, the parent company of sports management platform Sportabler has raised €3.7 million in a post-seed funding round led by Frumtak Ventures. The fresh capital will be used to further develop Abler’s product lineup as well as strengthen its market position across the Nordics, UK, and EU. 

Similar to Stockholm-based Heja, Sportabler is lending a helping hand to busy parents and guardians, providing a one-stop shop for registration and payment for a variety of activities such as league football, handball, gymnastics, dance, … and all the other things the kids do on a weekly basis. Or so I've been told. 🤷

On the flip side of the coin, Sportabler allows teams and organisers of said activities a centralised dashboard that can be used to oversee roster management, event management, venue booking, resource utilisation, and naturally, contact and communication between parents, coaches, and league managers is also on tap.

The platform even goes so far as to provide for team-branded products to be made available via e-commerce and logistics functionalities.

As a testament to the void that Abler is filling, the company claims to have captured 95% of the organised sports market in Iceland, and pilot programmes for youth league football and handball in the UK and Germany are well underway.

Co-founder and former professional handball player in Iceland and Germany Markus Mani Maute further elaborated, “Abler’s vision is to make good sports programs better and improve the working environment of an industry that plays a vital role in communities. Sports improve the overall physical, mental, and social health of communities, and we believe that strengthening the organisations that run these programs is key to increasing interest and participation.”

And while Abler, and its first product, Sportabler was initially designed to serve the organised sports sector, whether by accident or popular demand, the company is now spreading its wings and applying to fundamental technology it’s developed and applying it to a wider range of organised groups such as fitness centres, music schools, you name it. If there’s a coach or a teacher or a leader and a schedule involved, you can bet within the coming months' Abler’s name will be associated with it.

While the company’s €3.7 million in post-seed funding arrives via Frumtak Ventures, pre-seed funding was provided by a veritable who’s who of Icelandic, and global, sports and tech personae including Alli Ottarsson (Makers Fund, Riot Games), Siggi Olafsson (Novator, CCP Games), Thor Fridriksson (Plain Vanilla, TeaTime, Rocky Road), as well as professional footballers Birkir Bjarnason and Alfreð Finnbogason, and handball coaches Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson and Dagur Sigurdsson. In addition to these angel investors, Abler has also received grant funding and support from the Iceland Technical Development Fund, the Innovation Center of Iceland, and the Icelandic Directorate of Health.

“Abler is digitising the industry and serving everything from community youth sports to elite clubs. It’s an industry ripe for modernisation, and Abler is doing so in a way that drives physical and social health and well-being in communities across the globe,” says Svana Gunnarsdottir, Managing Director of Frumtak Ventures. “The Abler team has significant expertise in professional sports and youth program development and has combined this knowledge with the most advanced technologies to create fantastic new market opportunities.”