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Fanbase
Techstars '24Edinburgh, GB · Founded 2021 · 36 employees on LinkedIn · 5 known investors
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Fanbase provides a ticketing and fan engagement platform for semi-professional sports teams, offering ticket sales, membership management, mobile apps, and fan insights in a single interface. The platform serves semi-pro sports clubs seeking to streamline operations and grow revenue.
Also known as Fanbase Club · fanbase_clubs
Founders & leadership
Fanbase was founded in 2021 by Mikey Crawley.
Investors · 5
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Also in the syndicate · 4
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Fanbase is a digital platform for sports clubs, leagues and colleges that brings ticketing, hospitality, subscriptions, fan data and fan communications into a single system. Commerce features include fixture, event, session and season tickets sold online, VIP hospitality booking with dietary-requirement collection and automated invoicing, weekly/monthly/annual subscription payments with automated discounts, ticket office software for box-office and game-day use (including bulk printing, complimentary tickets and payment links), dynamic stadium maps with pricing templates and view-from-seat, promo codes, and password-protected branded allocation links for groups.
On the data side, the platform builds first-party fan profiles covering spending and attendance history, offers suggested "Fanbase Audiences" segments (for example lapsed fans or highest spenders), reporting and dashboards across fixtures, events, seasons and transactions, and tracking integrations for Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel. Communications and engagement tools include push notifications (up to five per week), automated signals for cancelled, rescheduled or postponed fixtures, a club newsfeed with articles and placements, Mailchimp audience sync, a Match Centre with facilities, directions, league tables and programmes, sponsor placements across purchase screens and confirmation emails, a points-based rewards and loyalty scheme, YouTube integration, and white-labelled apps published on the App Store and Google Play. An AI audience builder and lifecycle marketing automation are listed as forthcoming. Accounts are configured with each club's name, logo and colours, and the company states the platform is designed to operate alongside a club's existing technology stack.
Founding story
Fanbase was set up by brothers Alasdair and Michael (Mikey) Crawley, who founded the company in 2019 according to press coverage of its seed round. Alasdair Crawley, chief executive, was also a director at management consultancy Optima Partners, based in Edinburgh, London and Bristol; Michael Crawley, chief product officer, moved to the company full-time after a senior product manager role at PayPal in London and New York.
Business model
Fanbase sells its platform to sports organisations as software, with pricing published on its website. The product supports club-side revenue streams including ticket sales, VIP hospitality packages, subscription memberships and sponsor placements, and the company offers white-labelled club apps and ticket office software.
Traction
Company-reported figures in 2025: 283 active clubs, 750,000 registered fans and 50,000 fixtures and events ticketed, with a claimed 15% conversion rate and 16-second average purchase time. Club executives quoted on the site report ticketing revenue more than doubling (Raith Rovers), a 30% increase in ticket sales (Greenock Morton) and record conversion rates (Atlantic 10). Around 40 clubs were signed up at the time of the June 2021 seed round.
Latest developments
The company states it ships features on a roughly three-week cadence, and lists an AI audience builder and lifecycle marketing automation as in development.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positioned as an accessible ticketing and fan-engagement system for clubs below the top tier that, per the company's chief executive in 2021, had previously been priced out of comparable technology; it has since added professional teams, leagues and college customers.
Technology
A web and mobile platform covering online ticketing with digital passes that can be stored in Apple and Google Wallet, staffed ticket-office software with a game-day "Lightning Mode", dynamic seating charts, push notifications, first-party fan data profiles and automated audience segmentation, plus integrations with Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Meta Pixel and YouTube. White-labelled club apps are distributed through the App Store and Google Play. An AI-powered help centre supports customers, and an AI audience builder is listed as coming soon.
Go-to-market
The company sells directly to clubs, leagues and colleges via demo requests and contact forms on its site, supported by live chat from its Edinburgh team with a stated 10-minute response time, an AI-powered help centre and on-site support in ticket offices and turnstiles. Its public positioning leans on fan-side ease of use and club testimonials reporting sales uplift. Early growth focused on lower-league football clubs before conversations with top-tier UK clubs.
Sports organisations segmented on the company's site as semi-professional teams, professional teams, and leagues and colleges. Named users and references include Raith Rovers FC, Greenock Morton, Partick Thistle, Ayr United, Pollok FC and the Atlantic 10 conference.
Geography
Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a customer base concentrated in UK football, particularly Scotland, and at least one US collegiate conference customer (Atlantic 10). Growth plans announced in 2021 covered the UK and the US.
History
At the time of its June 2021 seed round, roughly 40 football clubs had signed up and the company stated a target of more than 300 UK clubs on the platform by 2023, alongside plans to expand into rugby, netball, cricket and North American sports. Carl Barton was hired as chief technology officer, bringing experience with technology and customer data in retail and fintech. By 2025 the company's website reported 283 active clubs, 750,000 registered fans and 50,000 fixtures and events ticketed, with customers including Scottish football clubs and the US collegiate Atlantic 10 conference.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Fanbase went on to found or lead other companies.
Related companies · 3
Companies working in the same space as Fanbase.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsThe Edinburgh start-up secured £500,000 of seed investment to fund UK and US growth, hire a full-time team and advance its product roadmap. Investors included Friends Reunited co-founders Steve Pankhurst and Tim Ward and angel investors Nick Telson and Andrew Webster.
Fanbase hired Carl Barton, with a background in technology and customer data in retail and fintech, as CTO; co-founder Michael Crawley joined full-time as chief product officer after leaving PayPal.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Fanbasefanbaseclub.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Fanbase do?
- Edinburgh-based platform combining ticketing, memberships, fan data and communications for sports clubs and leagues.
- Who founded Fanbase?
- Fanbase was founded by Mikey Crawley in 2021.
- Who are Fanbase's investors?
- Fanbase's investors include Techstars.
- Where is Fanbase headquartered?
- Fanbase is headquartered in Edinburgh, GB.