BGF's sports tech play was a waiting game
The bank-backed fund spent five years talking to Urban Zoo
Hello Rainmakers,
Are you sick of football after last night?
Maybe, but the onset of the domestic season in a few weeks time has concentrated minds on the massive reach sport has more generally, with diverse and scattered fan bases all over the globe.
Here’s a deal of its time, the £20m investment by BGF into Urban Zoo, a sports tech business which provides digital infrastrcture and a content template for clubs and brands.
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You’ve got to give BGF’s Rhys Davenport some credit for his patience.
The winner of the Rising Star award at the North West Rainmaker Awards has been talking to sports tech business Urban Zoo for five years.
The deal was inked this week, with BGF investing £20m in the business which builds digital platforms for leading sports clubs.
Describing Urban Zoo as “a brilliant business” he said the bank backed fund has been talking with founders for half a decade: “Five years of relationship building has contributed to this outcome and the Urban Zoo team have consistently delivered ahead of expectations over that period.”
Founded in 2013, the Warrington-based company provides world-leading digital platforms for sports brands, clubs, and federations – across mobile, web, streaming, e-commerce, and retail – to drive fan engagement and strengthen revenue streams. It has been backed up until now by Manchester entrepreneur Phil Hodari, and with investment from the founders.
The intention is for the BGF’s investment to support the scale-up of the development of Urban Zoo’s proprietary technology, and to grow across international markets, particularly in North America, which has been gripped by football during the 2026 World Cup.
He says the BGF and Urban Zoo five year courtship informed the eventual structure of the deal.
“BGF developed a close working relationship with Urban Zoo after an initial outreach message to Chris (CEO), followed by introductions to our wider network and value creation function. That relationship underpinned a flexible deal structure that helped satisfy a range of existing shareholders, anchored on long-term, patient growth capital.”
He adds that throughout the process, BGF was able to set itself apart from its competitors through its tangible value creation support, relevant experience with similar businesses and unique investment model.
If you’ve ever wondered why every football club website, ticketing page and news site feels consistent, and things are where you expect them to be, then the answer is Urban Zoo, which has disrupted the highly competitive global digital sports market through a differentiated all-in-one platform solution, Gamechanger, which they’ve also registered as a trademark.
It was developed in collaboration with global sports leaders and organisations to streamline content workflows, drive ROI, and deliver feature and data-rich websites and apps.
Despite the AI-induced wobbles amongst investors about any software platform, BGF have invested with the hope that Urban Zoo can build on its significant share of the UK market, working with more than 60 professional clubs across all tiers of the English Football League, including Aston Villa, Everton and Nottingham Forest, leading Scottish clubs Hibs and Celtic, as well as the Professional Darts Corporation, Motocross GP, and the Rugby Football League.
Urban Zoo was born out of a games developer Chris Grannell’s frustration at seeing clubs either bodge together clunky off‑the‑shelf tools or burn fortunes on one‑off builds that were outdated almost as soon as they went live. Instead, its platform gives rights‑holders a clean, flexible template that looks and feels big‑league but can be run by a skeleton back‑office team as easily as by a 15‑strong marketing department. New kit launches, changes of sponsor, VIP streams for overseas owners – are all designed to be dropped in and deployed without drama.
That pragmatism runs through the business model. Urban Zoo has grown steadily and quietly, staying close to break-even for much of its life rather than chasing vanity metrics or overpaying for growth. So far, the business has only ever filed abbreviated accounts, so we can’t see sales an profits growth, but it is steadily profitable according to one person familiar with the business.
The result is a capital‑light, profitable software business that can serve a Conference side and a Premier League club on essentially the same economics – a genuine mass‑market product in a sector that tends to obsess over only the top few global names.
It has also proved it can travel beyond football. The same technology now underpins propositions in rugby, cricket and darts, with contracts such as the Professional Darts Corporation helping to show that Urban Zoo’s “Gamechanger” isn’t limited to the 90‑minute format. For investors, that combination of disciplined execution, diversified rights‑holder relationships and a ready‑made playbook for expansion into Europe and North America explains why this has been a long courtship – and why, even in a choppier market for software valuations, the business has emerged as one of the more quietly impressive growth stories in UK sports tech.
Founder Grannell says the last 13 years has given Urban Zoo has a strong foothold in the UK sports market, working with some of the biggest brands, clubs and governing bodies to deliver digital platforms that engage fans around the world.
“We have a massive opportunity to take our platform into key global markets. To maximise that opportunity and accelerate our strategic ambitions, we recognised the need to form a strong investment partnership. BGF was the standout choice following a competitive approach, based on its tangible value creation support and unique investment model. We’re very excited about the journey ahead.”
As part of the investment, Geoffrey Finlay, former CEO of Lysanda and nCipher plc, will join as non-executive chair. Finlay brings more than 35 years’ experience in building and scaling dynamic technology businesses globally. He was appointed through BGF’s Talent Network – one of the largest groups of board-level non-executives in the UK and Ireland.
As for Rhys Davenport, the Investor at BGF who’s patience has paid off, he sees the business going from strength to strength as a result of the flexible deal he’s put together, centering on value creation and long-term, patient growth capital.
“Urban Zoo’s proven traction in the UK market creates a strong foundation for a significant scaling opportunity, with global potential and the ability to position itself at the forefront of the digital sports market.”
“Supported by BGF’s funding, Urban Zoo intends to invest in talent, develop its go-to-market strategy and build international capability from its Warrington headquarters. The business intends to make its mark on a global scale, placing the North West on the map when it comes to innovative digital sports solutions,” Davenport says.
Patrick Simpson, Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal, who advised the shareholders said: “Urban Zoo’s track record of working with leading sports brands and clubs positions it perfectly to capitalize on the growing demand for digital engagement solutions globally.”
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