Poolhouse collects 34 million US dollars for Gamified Pool by the creators of Topgolf

Pool houseThe effort of the top golf founders to build entertainment clubs around the pool game has collected 34 million US dollars.

Similar to Steve and Dave Jolliffe, golf with top golf have revolutionized, plan to do the same by revolving pool. Not only do you plan to create unusual clubs with high-quality restaurant food, but also include the augmented reality technology to expand the attractiveness of the pool player experience, said Andrew O’Brien, CEO of Poolhouse, in an interview with Gamesbeat.

The seed round was conducted by Sharp Alpha, a Venture Capital Investor, which was triggered in the USA, and DMG Ventures, the DMGT consumer risk capital fund. Other participants are Emerging Fund (investors in F1 Arcade, Flight Club and Batbox), David Blitzer (owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils), Simon Sports (co -owner of IPSWIC TOWN FC) and active partners, an early investor in Soho House.

In addition, the Signature Hospitality Group, one of the largest operators of the brand operator of Australia, has taken over an equity participation and signed a franchise contract with Poolhouse.

Visionary concept

Poolhouse is the result of four years of development of the Jolliffe brothers, the founder of Topgolf, which was merged with Callaway with a rating of 2.1 billion US dollars in 2021.

You will use the new capital to speed up the company’s ambitious plan to revolutionize the pool game. That sounds ambitious, but they have already done that for Golf.

Poolhouse combines its patented technology with a living old, old, in Las Vegas inspired ambience.
Offer guests of all skills an appealing experience with a diverse library of interactive pool games. With the Venning Brothers from three leaves, the drinks offer is curated, a staple on the 50 best bars list in the world that has contributed to define the cocktail culture in London and beyond the past ten years.

The proprietary technology from Poolhouse and the first -class supply for food and drinks will encounter the growing demand from consumers for high -quality unique experiences. So far, they have not revealed pictures of it or their technology because they have eight months before the fist and want to keep their competitive advantage a secret, said O’Brien.

“We don’t just build venues, we build technology that we can bring to a place where there is a pool table,” said O’Brien.

And just like Topgolf bought the digital online golf game World Golf TourThere could be a digital game about the Poolhouse app, he said. This includes a way to play players all over the world.

Global expansion plans

Poolhouse will introduce its own venues, starting with a 21,500 square meter location at Liverpool Street London, the most processed Great Britain train station. The company will also license its technology to hospitals all over the world. Discussions in the Middle East, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Steve Jolliffe, co -founder of Poolhouse, said in a explanation: “Poolhouse is the most ambitious and most scalable concept that my brother and I created. Nor are trying.”

The tables have both open spatial locations and semi -private cabins because people prefer to play the pool in different ways. Some prefer to be seen, others don’t. The food will be tapas style in which humans can share everything together. Not just a burger will do, but something like a Wagyu burger. There will not be much other entertainment because the focus will be on the pool.

“Everything is designed in such a way that it is delicious and shared, and it will include the world’s kitchen,” said O’Brien. “We are really looking for a fantastic F&B experience.”

The company now has about 20 people and will probably expand over 100 because it opens its first place.

The majority of the workplace is to find the right properties. He found that locations in California are extremely expensive compared to other locations. But there are many other places across the country with the right costs, demographic data, tourism and corporate presence.

He added: “The Jolliffes are the best. You have developed something here that is so attractive for every area of ​​life, including companies and families and couples, and we try to find places that are in the right balance.

O’Brien said there would be 19 pools at the venue. And I hear that there will also be a 20th secret table for high rollers, only about invitations.

He noticed that the pool is global. With millions of players, technology play in places such as China, Great Britain and the USA every week. He would not say what it was, but said it was “intelligent technology” in combination with traditional poolic.

O’Brien said the goal was to open the first event location in London in January 2026. He expects the company to also invest heavily in US locations. The company will probably have its own internal venues and also sell franchise companies.

guide

The Jolliffes have put together a heavyweight team that Irish CEO Andrew O’Brien, a board member at F1 Arcade and formerly Credit Suisse, and Coo Matt Fleming, who holds leading positions at Vagabond wines and is at one.

The rest of the senior team brings experience of industry leaders such as puttshack, bounce, flight club and swingers. Head of the culinary vision is a former chef of the Gordon Ramsay Group.

O’Brien met the Jolliffes in January 2023 and admired the dominance of Topgolf, which has a market share of 85% in its category. He finally learned that they worked on something new.

“With regard to the change in sport, you definitely did that. And what you did with golf strips with top golf is what you will do to polish houses.

“Hopefully we will bring enough experience together to deliver something very special here, and we have managed to close a decent round of financing,” said O’Brien. “It is really exciting what we do. And the design of the event location will be spectacular. It is a vintage vegas. That will be the topic. It is like American dipper. There will be ultra premium how to withdraw in time.”

Stakeholder knowledge

Sharp Alpha has a preference for investments in intelligent teams.

“We are very optimistic about the growth of the demand for third place experiences,” said Lloyd Danzig, managing director of Sharp Alpha, in an interview with Gamesbeat. “We see that the demand rises due to fundamental shifts by consumer preferences. People drink less. They are more lonely. They want to return to real life, combine with people with similar interests, lay down their phones and switch off notifications.”

He added: “And although you want to drink one or two drinks, you don’t necessarily want strong alcohol consumption to be the heart of socialization and entertainment. Therefore you see the growth of many new experimental, community -based entertainment concepts that capture a large part of the market.”

Gdansk also said his company loves investing in games.

“We believe that competitive entertainment or forms of entertainment that make the adrenaline flows are best to draw the attention of the people and create a connection to the people around them. That is why we have spent a lot of time in what some people call Eaterarnment, which calls a satellite jobs that are a conventional socialization room. Then usually with a food and drinks or guest habits to create a third place for leisure.

These are all concepts that Sharp Alpha Bullisch is.

“Then we got to know Poolhouse, which records in many of the thesis ideas in this category. They are a concept that is beneficial for food and drinks with a high ticket,” said Gdansk. “They are expenses for company events, which is of crucial importance for the provision of margins. They have a proprietary white label technology that can be sold in scale of hotels, casinos and other entertainment sites that Tech want to activate for their pools.

He said the Jolliffe brothers were “legendary engineers and entrepreneurs” from Great Britain who founded top golf and were the inventors of his technology.

“You did the same for Putt Shack, which is technically capable miniolf, and Poolhouse is what you have been working on in stealth mode for four years. Then we have brought a team of seven executives from F1 Arcade, Putt Shack and Topgolf to employees and carried out the daily company,” he said. “This combination of an incredible team and thesis, on which we are bullish, was interested in this opportunity, and we are happy to be connected to such a amazing group of strategic co-investors who help to make this an amazing reality.”

Gdansk rejected it to talk about exactly what was attractive about the “Gamification” layer in Poolhouse, but he said that Topgolf had used Tech like augmented reality with certainty to show where her ball would probably end up in different golf courses. And it enables games such as “closest to the PIN” or the virtual goals that do not exist in physical reality. There are also side quests for competition and more.

He said Smart Alpha had spent a large part of the past 18 months to evaluate almost every concept in this competitive area and in broader third -party space.

O’Brien said: “The poolhouse experiences the most important transformation in the history of an almost 700-year-old sport. The Jolliffe brothers changed the golf landscape with top golf, and they will do the same for the pool.”

Taos Edmondson, partner at DMG Ventures – “The technology from Poolhouse is surprisingly good and the customers are blown away when it opens its doors to the public. The demand for experience is booming, especially among younger generations. The addressable market will be both through Poolehouse’s own venues as well as the license organizers from the event locations of poolhouse.”

For inquiries, please contact the following E -Mail address, poolhouse@fsc.uk.com.