COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TOCA Football, Inc. (TOCA), a California-based soccer-focused and technology-enabled experience company, has secured $25 million in Series D funding. This latest round was led by existing shareholders WestRiver Group (WRG), the lead investor in Topgolf Entertainment Group (Topgolf); RNS Partners (RNS); and affiliated family office investors with deep roots in the technology sector. Portico Capital served as exclusive financial advisor on this transaction.
TOCA’s lead investor, WRG, is the group behind Topgolf, the world leader in experience-based sports brands. WRG has been working with TOCA for the last year to build the business plan, board and team needed 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 founded in 2014 by two-time U.S. World Cup and former MLS and English Premier League midfielder Eddie Lewis. Lewis led the development of TOCA’s training platform, which employs a proprietary ball machine, digitalized targets and a data-enhanced app to create a welcoming environment for players at every level. Young children train alongside top professionals in the company’s growing number of purpose-built sports studios, where over 30 million balls have been delivered to date. The Series D funding also will hasten the opening of TOCA Social, its unique entertainment experience, which will bring the fun of playing soccer to everyone in an engaging environment with excellent food, beverage and guest service.
To achieve its mission to transform the sports experience and to build communities where “Everybody Plays,” TOCA has assembled an experienced management team led by Yoshi Maruyama as its CEO. Maruyama brings more than two decades of proven leadership in scaling world-class lifestyle and entertainment experiences, having led the global expansion of Universal Studios theme parks and DreamWorks Animation-branded entertainment. In addition, Maruyama brings extensive public company governance experience, having served as the chairman of the board of SeaWorld Entertainments (New York Stock Exchange) and board director of Universal Studios Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange). Maruyama is surrounded by seasoned executives from other global experience, sports and technology brands.
TOCA’s Board is an indication of how serious the team is about creating a world-class brand. Anderson and Tom Denison, principal of RNS, are co-chairs of the board. They are joined by seasoned experts in building and scaling excellent brand-centric companies, including:
- Celeste Burgoyne, executive vice president, North America, for Lululemon;
- Scott Maw, former chief financial officer of Starbucks Coffee; and
- David Miller, co-founder of technology unicorn AvidXchange.
Maruyama and Lewis round out this very active and engaged group of directors.
“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,” Maruyama said. “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.”
For more information about TOCA, please visit tocafootball.com.
About TOCA Football
Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, TOCA Football, Inc. is a soccer-focused, technology-enabled experience company that aims to transform the sports experience and to build communities that inspire everybody to play.
For more information please visit TOCAfootball.com or follow @tocafootball on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
About WestRiver Group
WestRiver Group (WRG) is a collection of investment funds that provide integrated capital solutions to the global innovation economy. The Seattle-based venture debt and equity firm has a growing portfolio of investments in technology, life sciences, energy and experiential sectors. WRG’s established network of partners provides access to investment opportunities and thought leadership, and deep operational expertise allows it to work closely with portfolio companies and lead at the executive and board level. More information is available at wrg.vc.
About Portico Capital
Portico Capital provides independent strategic and financial advisory services in the areas of mergers & acquisitions (M&A), recapitalizations and capital raisings exclusively to private and public companies. The firm, founded in 2000, has offices in Greenwich, Connecticut; New York, New York; and London, England. For more information, please visit porticocapital.com.
