Sportlobster

Sportlobster
Type of business Private
Founded April 2013
Headquarters Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Area served Worldwide
Key people Andy Meikle, Arron Shepherd, Nico Cary
Industry Social Networking
Employees 50 (January 2015)
Slogan(s) The Sports Social Network
Website www.sportlobster.com
Alexa rank 45,907 (May 2016)[1]
Registration Required
Users 1 million (June 2014)
Current status Active

Sportlobster is a social networking website that launched in 2013[2] that is available online and on the two major mobile operating systems, iOS and Android.[2] The company was founded by Andy Meikle, Arron Shepherd and Nico Cary[2][3] and is currently based in London.[4]

Website

Upon registration users receive a personal profile page where they can post blogs, photographs, predictions and videos. Profiles may be personalised by changing the cover photo and the profile image that displays across the website and app. As of November 2013, 32 sports could be followed using the website.[5]

In April 2014, the website attained 700,000 users[6] and obtained its one millionth users on 8 June 2014.[7] In doing so, Sportlobster reached the milestone faster than social networking rivals Twitter and Tumblr.[7]

In 2016, in the buildup to the 2016 UEFA European Championship, Sportlobster launched a its first ever ₤1million prediction competition, complimented by a team former professional footballers including Michael Owen, Sol Campbell and Danny Mills who provided tips and verdicts on how matches at the tournament would play out.[8]

Corporate affairs and affiliations

In September 2013, Sportlobster received £1 million in funding from Luxembourg-based private equity firm, Wychwood Capital Partners in preparation for the launch of the company's iPhone app.[9] In November, minority stakes in the company were purchased by former England international footballer Michael Owen and former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber.[10] In April the following year, Sportlobster gained £2.2 million in investments for the implementation of video games on the website.[6]

In May 2014, a host of sport personalities had signed on to front Sportlobster's campaign, included in which were boxer George Groves and three-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.[11] Three months later Crystal Palace Football Club announced that they had reached an agreement with Sportlobster which would see the company serve as the official social media partner of the club.[12]

References

  1. "Sportlobster.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  2. 1 2 3 Gutcher, Lianne (28 May 2013). "Sportlobster, the website that spans arenas". The National. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  3. Okwango, Musa (23 April 2013). "Bringing Together Sport and Social Media: A Chat With the Founders of Sportlobster". Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  4. Sportlobster
  5. Burn-Callander, Rebecca (8 November 2013). "Footballer Michael Owen invests in Sportlobster". The Telegraph.
  6. 1 2 Loizou, Kiki (08 April 2014). "Back of the net: sports website wins funds". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Sportlobster Reaches One Million Useres". Sport Industry Group. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  8. Masters, Dave (22 May 2016). "Win €1million by correctly guessing the Euro 2016 results - enter competition free here". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  9. "Financial fillip for Sportlobster". Scotland Herald. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  10. "Footballer Michael Owen invests in Sportlobster". 18 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  11. Chapman, Stephen (09 May 2014). "Ronaldo fronts Media Agency Group's Sportlobster campaign". Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  12. "Social Media Partner: Sportlobster". 26 August 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.