BHP nets investment for The Coaching Manual
TCM secured £775k of investment from Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”) and a consortium of investors led by ex-England football international, Danny Mills.
The Manchester headquartered company was founded by football loving brothers Terry and Chris Barton who had identified the lack of expertly curated and accessible football coaching material to players, coaches and parents in grassroots football. The company set out to transform the way coaching is delivered by building an interactive, digital platform. TCM uses its cutting-edge software tools to deliver best-in-class coaching material, developed alongside world-renowned football academies, to soccer participants across the globe.
Its innovative product offering has proven successful in the UK through all levels of coaching from grassroots to elite level and it has been adopted by a number of leading Premier League and Championship clubs. The company has also focussed on the large and growing US market where it has been endorsed by a number of state associations and multi-state football clubs.
Having secured the funding, The Coaching Manual is well-positioned to continue with its expansion in the UK and US having held advanced talks with a large number of football clubs, football associations and state associations. The funds will partly be deployed to strengthen TCM’s squad, with the addition of some star players who can help achieve its ambitious growth targets.
The Coaching Manual co-founder, Chris Barton added “Having helped us prepare the business for investment, BHP introduced us to Maven who instantly shared our enthusiasm for the TCM platform and its potential. BHP then assisted us through what was a complex fundraising process, were available when we needed them and worked through a number of complex commercial issues to get the deal done. We are very grateful to BHP for their support throughout the fundraising process.”
The BHP team was led by Andy Haigh and Juel Chowdhury. Andy Haigh commented, “We really enjoyed teaming up with the Bartons to deliver the growth funding package. Sharing their passion for football, we quickly bought into the commercial prospects of what they had built and crucially the impact it could have on raising the standard of grass roots football and player development across the world. The potential for the platform really is significant and we wish them all the best in achieving success.”