Topgolf Founders Raise $34 Million For Poolhouse, Their Latest Sports Startup

Forbes

14-04-2025

FILE - David Blitzer participates in a New Jersey Devils press conference Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013, ... More in Newark, N.J. Major League Baseball has approved the sale of a minority stake in the Cleveland Guardians to David Blitzer, who also has ownership shares in the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils, two people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Poolhouse, a United Kingdom-based startup founded by the brothers behind Topgolf, has raised $34 million in a seed round. The company plans on using the proceeds to further develop its technology, gain a foothold in the competitive sports-themed entertainment retail industry and open locations where people can play a high-tech version of pool while eating, drinking and socializing.
The seed round was co-led by Sharp Alpha, a venture capital firm based in New York, and dmg ventures, the venture capital arm of DMGT, which owns the Daily Mail newspaper among other holdings. David Blitzer, who owns a stake in the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils and invests in sports-focused startups, participated in the round, as did investment firms Simon Sports and Active Partners.
Poolhouse declined to disclose the valuation of the company following the seed round, some of which it raised via a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) note that will convert to equity when the company raises a planned Series A next year.
Poolhouse is the brainchild of twins Dave and Steve Jolliffe, who in 2000 started Topgolf to enhance the experience of going to a golf driving range. Topgolf merged in 2021 with Callaway in a deal that valued Topgolf at $2.1 billion. There are now 96 Topgolf locations in the U.S. and 12 locations in other countries. The Jolliffe brothers also founded Puttshack, a miniature golf entertainment concept that raised $150 million in October 2022 from Blackrock. There are 16 Puttshack locations in the U.S. and four in the United Kingdom.
Poolhouse plans on opening its first venue early next year in London. The 21,348-square-foot, two-story building is located next to the city's Liverpool Street Station and will house 20 pool tables with food and beverage options.
The Poolhouse venues will have regular sized pool tables and pool cues, but the company has developed technology that will enhance the experience, including superimposing images on the table, creating various games people can play and allowing them to track their progress on an app and video screens. The company also has a system that can track how good players are and a handicapping system similar to golf that makes it more competitive among players who have various abilities.
Andrew O'Brien, a former Credit Suisse banker who invested in Puttshack and sits on the board of F1 Arcade, is Poolhouse's CEO and runs its day-to-day operations. Steve Jolliffe is Poolhouse's executive chairman and speaks with O'Brien every day. The Jolliffes remain the largest individual shareholders in Poolhouse, according to O'Brien.
'The look and the feel will be important, but ultimately, it's what the Jolliffes did with Topgolf,' O'Brien said. 'They create amazing technology to transform an existing sport. There's a reason why there weren't any Topgolf rivals for 20 years. It's because they're very strong on the patent side of things. They don't just design pretty. They design things that are difficult to replicate.'
O'Brien added: 'With Poolhouse, I think they've done something very similar. They've created something on the back of technology, which is real pool tables, real pool balls, real cues. Everything's the same, but they've infused technology into it to augment the experience.'
After launching in London, Poolhouse plans on opening two sites in the U.S., one in late 2026 and another in early 2027. The company plans on opening four to five locations per year in the U.S. starting in 2027 in downtown locations of major cities such as Boston, Chicago, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Poolhouse will lease space in buildings rather than own the buildings.
Poolhouse has also struck a franchising agreement in Australia with Signature Hospitality Group, which has an equity stake in Poolhouse. Poolhouse expects to sign additional franchising or joint venture agreements in other countries.
In addition, the company plans on licensing its technology to traditional pool halls, casinos, restaurants, apartment complexes and even homes or anywhere else that has a pool table.
'We think there's huge scope for this to be scaled across the world at quite a pace,' O'Brien said.
Lloyd Danzig, managing partner of Sharp Alpha, said the venture capital firm spent 12 to 18 months evaluating companies in what he refers to as the 'competitive socialization' or 'eatertainment' industry, referring to Topgolf, Puttshack, F1 Arcade and other companies where people gather to socialize, eat, drink and compete in an activity. Sharp Alpha was looking for companies that had high food and drink spend at its venues, were conducive to corporate events, featured activities that could be done on a regular basis rather than a one-off basis and had proprietary software that could be licensed to a third parties at a high margin. He said he believes Poolhouse will meet all of those criteria.
'They, more than any other concept we've come across, really embody all four of those features,' Danzig said. 'The confluence of what we're bullish on at the category level and also at the concept level and what they're building dovetailed with just an absolutely incredible management and executive team. We give these guys an 11 out of 10 on founder-market fit.'