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The founders of Topgolf and Puttshack have raised $34 million in seed capital from investors, including billionaire Blackstone executive David Blitzer and the investment arm of The Daily Mail.
The funding round for Poolhouse, a “technical-enabled” version of the tabletop game, attracted support from New York-based VC funds Sharp Alpha and Simon Sports to the co-owners of UK football club Ipswich Town.
Alongside Blitzer betting on teams in the English Premier League of US football, basketball, hockey league and football, the investor group includes early supporters of Soho House Private Member Club and F1 Arcade operators, a Formula 1 themed entertainment space.
This new business was developed by Steve and Dave Jolliff. Dave Jolliff is the British twin who built TopGolf, an international chain with a “gaming” driving range that golf equipment maker Callaway acquired for $2.1 billion. They also developed the Patshack, a high-tech version of the mini golf, along with Adam Breeden, the founder of F1 Arcade, Darts Chain Flight Club and All-Star Lane Bowling Aria.
Poolhouse includes pool tables, balls and cues, but adds tracking techniques and video projections to overlay additional features such as bonus targets and obstacles. The team behind it also includes Paul Hawkins, founder of sports technology company Hawkeye.
“It’s very difficult to replicate what they’ve built,” said Andrew O’Brien, Poolhouse CEO. “They adopted the Nokia 3210 and created iPhones on every pool platform on the planet.”
The company’s first 20 table venue is scheduled to open early next year, across from London’s Liverpool Street Station, the UK’s busiest railway terminal. Behind it, it promises a “vintage Las Vegas” atmosphere with food and drinks available.
Poolhouse will take part in an increasingly crowded market with venues of so-called competitive social associations, with rival chains offering high-tech-driven cricket, bowling, darts and virtual clay piggan shooting. Some describe London as the industry’s “Silicon Valley,” but several concepts have been tested within the city before its global expansion.
Compared to traditional food and drink venues, “I love the competitive social sector,” said O’Brien, a former Credit Swiss investment banker. “We’re adding a gross profit margin of nearly 100%.”
Real Estate Agent Savills says it has grown 40% since 2018 in the UK alone market alone, calling it “the biggest development the leisure sector has seen in decades.” It is estimated that 800 competitive social venues will dot the country by 2029.
After its opening in London, Poolhouse will focus its efforts on the US. I also signed up for a franchise partner, a signature hospitality group in Australia, with models I would like to emulate elsewhere.
Equipment will be sold to pubs, bars, casinos and hotels so that these venues can replicate the pool house experience with existing pool tables. Sharp Alpha Managing Partner Lloyd Danzig said he was attracted to the high margins as he sold Poolhouse’s “white label technology (which allows licensees to rebrand and sell their own technologies), and modernising the pool table into a dynamic digital entantinate hub.
