News

Slinger Bag has acquired Foundation Tennis, a developer of tennis software applications covering tennis club and facility administration and encompassing highly functional user and CRM experiences.

Foundation Tennis started its business in 2017 and currently has over 1 million individual facility members registered on its platform. The U.S. tennis market accounts for 17,000 facilities and over 20 million tennis players – out of a global market of approximately 100,000 facilities and 100 million players – both of which represent a significant market opportunity for future growth of the Foundation Tennis platform.

Foundation Tennis’s proprietary technology suite provides business services to the tennis industry, including operational and payments software as well as digital platform management (web site design, hosting, iOS and Android apps). Recently the company was named as a Platform Development Partner for Square, an exclusive distinction and significant recognition of its platform being the only Square partner specifically serving both the tennis and greater racquet sports industries.

“In my many years in the tennis industry I have experienced all that the market offers in such club administration and court booking services, and I have to commend Charlie, Jaana and George for creating a near perfect and all-inclusive program. We are thrilled to bring Foundation Tennis under the Slinger brand and in doing so to support Charlie and his team in building out his platform providing a compelling offering of facility and member services on a single user platform,” said Mike Ballardie, CEO of Slinger. “Today’s acquisition announcement represents a significant step in our brand evolution at Slinger towards becoming a leading connected sports company. We aim to achieve that by putting our users at the core of all products and services that we bring to the global tennis market, today and in the future.”

Slinger noted that tennis as a sport has seen tremendous growth through the pandemic, from a 20 percent jump in participation to a 40 percent increase in racket sales and 44 percent increase in new players.

“We will now be better able to know and understand the specific needs of tennis players, member clubs and tennis facilities around the world and in doing so make use of this knowledge to drive monetization of our user base through offering a range of value-enhancing products and services,” continued Ballardie. “The Slinger Bag has been so well received across the tennis globe because of its core value proposition – transportability, versatility and affordability – reinventing tennis and making it accessible to all. With the Foundation Tennis technology platform, we will have an opportunity to provide a complimentary and streamlined selection of services with a similar value proposition for global tennis clubs and facilities as well as their members, across a new set of technologies.”

“Over the past many years, we have built and accumulated a diverse array of tools and software to best serve the tennis facility market,” said Charlie Ruddy, the founder and president of Foundation Tennis. “I developed my first SaaS tennis management system back in 2001 with the intended goal to support the market and its software and technology needs. Foundation Tennis, which we began developing in 2017, represents the sum of our experience while harnessing the latest technology to give our customers a cutting-edge competitive advantage. Mike and the Slinger team have tapped into something special in the tennis market and we look forward to driving value and innovation for the entire industry together.”

Pursuant to the definitive agreement, Slinger has acquired all issued and outstanding shares of Foundation Tennis. Effective immediately, Foundation Tennis will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Slinger Bag Inc. Under the terms of the agreement Foundation Tennis shareholders will receive 600,000 shares of Slinger Bag common stock and additional 400,000 in two further tranches over the next 24 months.

Shares of Slinger closed at $3.40 Wednesday.