- California-based soccer-focused technology experience company TOCA Football announced it raised $25 million in Series D funding
TOCA Football — California-based soccer-focused technology experience company — announced it has raised $25 million in Series D funding. This round of funding was led by existing shareholders WestRiver Group (the lead investor in Topgolf Entertainment) and RNS Partners along with affiliated family office investors with deep roots in the technology sector. Portico Capital had served as exclusive financial advisor on this transaction.
WRG has been working with TOCA over the last year to build out its business plan, the board, and the team needed in order to make TOCA the world’s first soccer-focused experience brand.
“We’re revolutionizing the way billions of players and fans around the world experience soccer, the world’s most popular sport,” said TOCA Co-Executive Chairman Erik Anderson, who also serves as executive chairman of Topgolf and founder and CEO of WRG. “TOCA has assembled a winning team of leaders from the sports, lifestyle and entertainment, retail and technology categories to create world-class experiences and achieve unprecedented growth.”
TOCA was launched in 2014 by two-time U.S. World Cup and former MLS and English Premier League midfielder Eddie Lewis. Lewis is known for leading the development of TOCA’s training platform — which employs a proprietary ball machine, digitalized targets, and a data-enhanced app to create an environment that is welcome for players at every level.
Younger users are able to train along with top professionals in the company’s growing number of purpose-built sports studios where more than 30 million balls have been delivered to date.
This round of funding will be used for opening TOCA Social, a unique entertainment experience that will bring the fun of playing soccer to users in an engaging environment with excellent food, beverage, and guest service.
And in order to achieve its mission of transforming the sports experience and to build communities where “Everybody Plays,” TOCA assembled an experienced management team led by Yoshi Maruyama as its CEO.
Maruyama has over two decades of proven leadership in scaling world-class lifestyle and entertainment experiences. He is also known for leading the global expansion of Universal Studios theme parks and DreamWorks Animation-branded entertainment.
Plus Maruyama has extensive public company governance experience by serving as the chairman of the board of SeaWorld Entertainments and board director of Universal Studios Japan. And Maruyama is surrounded by seasoned executives from other global experience, sports, and technology brands.
Anderson and RNS managing partner Tom Denison are co-chairs of the board. And they are joined by Celeste Burgoyne of Lululemon, Scott Maw of Starbucks, and David Miller of AvidXchange.
“I’m delighted to be leading our dedicated team, which is transforming the way people experience soccer. Through TOCA’s proprietary technology and engaging service team, we’re improving the way players train and bringing new social experiences to players and non-players alike,” said Maruyama. “By leveraging our proprietary technologies and our team’s proven track record in developing world-class entertainment experiences, TOCA will build communities that inspire everybody to play.”
