The Dutch Sport Tech Ventures joins Zest.Golf Technologies on their journey providing equity capital to assist in their growth acceleration, product development and geographical expansion.
Zest.Golf is pushing the frontier of technology to transform golf industry bookings from offline to online, in a similar way to the travel & leisure industry. Its open, B2B, universal Channel Manager solution simply connects golf courses, tee time reservation systems with sales channels worldwide making tee times searchable and bookable directly from within any golf travel application or website.
Zest.Golf has successfully launched their tee time Channel Manager solution to the Golf travel industry and already has a presence in most countries across Europe. Zest.Golf also signed various partners including IAGTO, the Global Golf Tourism Organisation, leading industry tee time reservation systems and continues to grow its network of golf courses and resorts including many flagship golf resort properties.
Over recent months, Zest.Golf has largely focussed on product development and platform enhancements. Earlier this year, Zest restarted commercial activities and reopened investment discussions following an ease in travel restrictions and consumer confidence. The Dutch Sport Tech Ventures was the perfect strategic fit for Zest.Golf with a core team offering years of industry experience in sports, technology and finance across multiple markets.
Oliver Dury, CEO, Zest.Golf Technologies, said: “We are really excited about our partnership with the Dutch SportTech Ventures. We believe we’ve found the perfect strategic partner at the right time for our business. DSTV not only provides us with funds to accelerate our growth, but also with experience, know-how and a network at the highest level in sports & technology. They undoubtedly add significant value to our management team and will help us identify and open up new strategic opportunities in Europe and internationally in line with our global ambitions.”
Dutch Sport Tech Ventures CEO, Alexander Janssen, has worked in all aspects of the sports and technology world with 20 years of board positions, mergers and management and as co-owner of 3 sports tech scale-ups.
For Alexander the decision to invest was an easy one. “We are delighted to partner with the Zest team who combine technology and golf industry expertise with a lifetime passion for the game. We’ve seen how similar technology revolutionised the travel market yet the tee time booking experience currently lags well behind. Zest significantly streamlines a labour intensive booking process and meets the changing demands of the market, especially for the global golf tourism industry.”
DSTV’s, Chief Investor Relations, Eric van der Maarel, a financial and sales professional, entrepreneur and investor with over 32 years of experience in asset management, portfolio management, sales and investor relations adds “A lack of middleware technology in the global marketplace has limited connectivity and prevented any real opportunity for the golf industry to innovate or transition bookings from offline to online. The pressure for change following Covid-19 is real and Zest paves the way for the industry to meet new standards in delivering on consumer expectation. Players and the game will benefit greatly from the technology. We look forward to working with the Zest team to deliver their game changing technology to a global market place.”
