Eyeball.Club, a sports tech company helping professional football clubs scout and recruit young talent, today announced the successful closing of a €5M Seed round. The round was led by Vendep Capital with participation from Sportlogiq, Heartland, and Founderment. This investment comes just nine months after the company’s pre-seed round, highlighting its rapid growth and increasing traction within the global football industry.
The fresh capital will fuel Eyeball.Club’s expansion into key U.S. and Latin American markets, as well as further enhance its technology capabilities across the platform. Eyeball.Club’s platform digitises the scouting process by leveraging AI-powered data analytics, offering clubs unprecedented insights into player performance and potential.
Additionally, this seed round will allow Eyeball.Club to continue its aggressive growth trajectory while strengthening its technology as a core part of the recruitment infrastructure in professional football. As the platform consolidates its reputation as the go-to solution for clubs seeking a competitive edge in youth talent recruitment, it is quickly becoming an essential tool for teams in a highly competitive landscape.
Eyeball.Club, which operates in 27 countries, is already being utilised by over 100 leading football clubs worldwide. This includes the majority of Premier League and Ligue One clubs, as well as over 50% of both the German Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A, highlighting the impact Eyeball.Club is having on some of Europe’s biggest clubs recruitment strategy.
Players who have been identified through Eyeball.Club’s platform includes 18-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder Abdoulaye Kanté, who moved from FC Montfermeil to ESTAC (Troyes) who are part of the City Football Group, 17-year-old Norwegian winger Daniel Skaarud who was spotted playing for Norwegian side Lillestrøm before transferring to Ajax’s academy and 19-year-old Ivory Coast defender Assane Ouedraogo who moved from Ivory coast club FC San Pedro to MLS club Charlotte FC.
Elsewhere, 18-year-old French winger Rayan Djahl who moved from Lyon Laduchère to Juventus Turin's reserve team last summer, and finally Alberto Velasquez, who plays as a centre forward for the U19 team of Danish club Midtjylland.
“We’ve seen a three-fold increase in revenue in 2024, and this latest funding round is a strong validation of our vision to redefine how talent is scouted across the globe, by top clubs,” said Manfred Lerley, CEO and Co-founder of Eyeball.Club. “We are empowering clubs to access a broader talent pool with data-driven insights that were previously unavailable.
“Our technology is providing players opportunities to reach the professional game, that was previously unattainable, democratising the entire scouting process from a club and player perspective. This capital will enable us to push even further and help uncover the stars of the future.”
Lerley continued “Our Mission is clear; it is not just about finding the best talent; it’s about equipping clubs with the digital tools they need to future-proof their recruitment processes by building and securing a reliable pipeline of young talent. Whether it’s expanding scouting networks into new regions or leveraging AI-driven insights, we’re creating a new paradigm in sports tech.”
The foundation of Eyeball.Club’s platform is full match video, and computer vision AI, data analytics, and video analysis are leveraged to provide clubs with a comprehensive view of emerging talent across multiple markets and continents. By digitising the scouting process, Eyeball.Club allows clubs to scout talent from under-represented regions, finding football stars earlier than ever before. The platform has been lauded for improving the accuracy and efficiency of player evaluation.
A spokesperson from a leading Premier League club noted, “Eyeball.Club has fundamentally changed how we approach youth recruitment. Their platform allows us to identify players we might never have noticed, with data that supports long-term strategic recruitment decisions.”
In addition to Eyeball.Clubs elite level global club partners, they also have partnerships with National Federations and Governing Bodies, further solidifying the company's position as a leader in sports technology innovation.
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