Online Golf Marketplace GolfLAN raises $1 million

Asia’s online golf community and marketplace, GolfLAN has raised $1 million from existing investors, YourNest Angel Fund and Africa’s leading IT/ITES group, iSON. The funds will be used to expand to regions witnessing a surge in interest for the sport, especially in Africa, Middle East and SEA countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

In the last 4 years, the number of golf enthusiasts in India has sharply gone up, with about 200 thousand people teeing today compared to 30 thousand in 2010. The potential for growth is exponential, with just 300 golf courses across the country compared to more than 15000 in the US. Out of these 300, over 50 have been built in just the last 5 years with around 60% having been built in Tier 1 and 2 towns, highlighting the rapid growth that the sport is witnessing as well as the diverse backgrounds from which the new players are emerging.

On GolfLAN’s cloud-based SaaS platform, golfers from anywhere in the world can book tee slots in over 1000 courses across 40 countries, apart from finding golf equipment and trainers. According to a company statement, within 5 years, GolfLAN has grown to 20000 users and in terms of revenue, saw a 400% increase in the last 18 months. In July 2016, it acquired a Dubai-based golf technology company, StayPrime, in a $1 million deal.

Commenting on the development, Dhruv Verma, CEO, GolfLAN, said, “Golf is rapidly moving into the mainstream and is shedding its status as a sport that is the forte of the ‘rich’ or ‘elite’. As more players aspire to learn and play golf, we are witnessing a proliferation of golf courses across countries in the Middle East, South East Asia, and Africa, apart from India, signaling a dizzying growth for the sport. This sparked the need for an aggregation platform that brings all stakeholders under one roof and thus GolfLAN came about. Our growth in the last 3 years validates this.”