This month Maison Sport has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs (capital at risk) in a bid to raise £400,000, building on the £1.4m raised during Autumn 2020. This crowdfunding will enable us to grow and prepare to take the marketplace global.
A Little About Maison Sport
Our mission is to revolutionise the way ski & snowboard instructors work around the world. Our platform gives instructors complete autonomy over their availability, products, and pricing, and provides enough new business each season, that they can work independently from a traditional ski school, improving their quality of life.
Maison Sport was founded in 2016 by three former British Alpine Team skiers – Nick Robinson, CEO and Co-founder and his brother Olly Robinson, COO and Co-founder, and Aaron Tipping, CFO and Co-founder.
“Maison Sport was created out of our passion and dedication to this sport and thanks to our community, our investors, independent ski & snowboard instructors, and our team we have built a product that is revolutionising the way ski & snowboard instructors work around the world” – Nick.
In the past 4 years, Maison Sport has grown incredibly, reaching a community of over 1,000 active ski & snowboard instructors. Instructors have successfully used our platform to connect with 10,000+ customers, teaching lessons across Europe, specifically in France, Switzerland, Italy & Austria.
We have recently surpassed 20,000 hours of lessons taught and have over 3,100 instructor reviews, left by satisfied customers on instructors’ profiles, 90% of which are rated with a 5-stars.
Previous Funding
Maison Sport raised £786,000 from a combination of an initial Seedrs crowdfunding campaign in 2018 which exceeded the target by 135%, as well as two angel funding rounds in January 2016 and December 2016, which allowed us to launch our innovative concept and facilitated early growth.
Early funding also allowed us to attract some of the best tech talents to ensure technology remains at the forefront of the business and that the user experience for both the customer and instructor is accessible, fast, and seamless. Over the course of the past 6 months, our business has gone from 7 employees to 15 and expects to grow to 21 over the coming 12 months.
This past year we raised an additional £1m and brought serial entrepreneur Lorenz Bogaert on board, to join the company as a non-executive director. Bogaert is joining non-executive chairman Graeme Gunn and our advisory board which includes some well-known fund managers and Kevin Byrne, Founder of Checkatrade.com.
Our Plans for The Future
At Maison Sport, we are definitely not done growing and have big plans for the coming years. Covid-19 has undoubtedly hit the ski industry hard, but we continue to think ahead and face challenges with a clear path and set goals in mind.
The independent ski & snowboard instructors operating on Maison Sport are essential for us, and we are in constant communication with them ensuring they are able to operate to the maximum of their capacities through Maison Sport.
We plan to grow, evolve, and expand our platform into new countries across the globe, we recently added resorts in Scotland and plan on opening in Norway, Sweden, and Japan within the next 6 months. We will continue to advance our technology which allows us to dramatically improve the experience of booking an instructor.
As the only platform dedicated to independent instructors, we have proven to be a game-changer not only for ski and snowboard instructors but also for customers who are looking for a better experience when booking their instructors.
As we move forward, we want to share our next part of the journey with as many of you as possible and show you the great things we will accomplish at Maison Sport.
To learn more about our crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, click on the link below.
https://www.seedrs.com/maison-sport1
Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Please read the Risk Warnings before investing. Investments should only be made by investors who understand these risks. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Seedrs does not make investment recommendations to you and any investment decision should be made on the basis of the full campaign. No communications from Seedrs, through email or any other medium, should be construed as an investment recommendation.
