SINGAPORE private equity firm Tembusu Partners is ploughing US$10 million (S$13.5 million) into CricHQ, a cricket technology company based in New Zealand.
The funds will be used to enhance the firm's digital platform and expand its global operations, the parties said in a joint statement yesterday.
CricHQ, set up in 2010, provides cricket management tools - including administration, scoring, coaching, news and social media - via its digital platform, which has more than 300,000 users and 1.5 million player profiles.
The company generates revenue via advertising and sponsorships through a software service, where administrators for example pay a licence fee to use the system, and the sale of data and analytics.
It did not disclose whether it was profitable.
CricHQ co-founder and chief executive Simon Baker told a briefing at Tembusu Partners' office in Raffles Place that much of the administration and score-keeping for cricket globally is still being done manually, which is "time-intensive" and makes content inaccessible.
The investment will allow the company, which is already a partner with 41 of the 106 national governing bodies for cricket, to improve administration of the game from the club level upwards, he said.
CricHQ will expand its global operations via senior appointments in Britain, India, Pakistan and South Africa in the coming weeks.
It plans to expand its development, sales and marketing capabilities in India, the biggest market for cricket, and double its staff strength of 40 there in a year's time, said Mr Baker.
"CricHQ will benefit from Tembusu's experience and network in Asia, and is based in Singapore - the ideal gateway to our key markets," he added, noting that the company aims to triple its user base in the next year.
The investment is Tembusu Partners' first in a sports-related technology firm. It is also the second investment by Tembusu Growth Fund III, which has a target size of $150 million and an expected 20 to 25 per cent return annually.
Tembusu Partners founder and chairman Andy Lim said CricHQ "has a huge opportunity to become the world's leading online repository of cricket information".
