Toca Football, which sets up and runs “soccer training centers” and related “social entertainment venues,” has raised about $100 million in a series F round.
The money will be going towards international expansion, new tech and the construction – in partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) – of a first entertainment venue in the US. This is to open in Texas before the next World Cup, in 2026.
Toca’s entertainment venues, as Front Office Sports observes, are not unlike the driving ranges of TopGolf, with a loud, billiards-hall vibe. There are two in the UK: at London’s The O2 and at Birmingham’s Bullring & Grand Central. Others are scheduled to open next year in London, Paris and Monterrey, Mexico. The last of these will be Toca’s first franchise in Mexico.
The centers, however, came first and spring from an idea that founder Eddie Lewis had when as a player on UCLA’s soccer team. One day he saw the university’s basketball team practice with hoops of smaller than regulation size and wondered, What if? Toca’s website lists 36 centers in operation, spread over the US and Canada.
Among the investors are Jim Kavanaugh, founder and CEO of World Wide Technology (WWT) and co-owner of St. Louis City SC; Bill Anderson, former chairman and CEO of Anderson Holdings, founder of First Beverage Group and founder of June Street Capital; Jared Smith, co-founder of Qualtrics; chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen; and Harry Kane, who is captain of England Men’s National Team and has an endorsement deal with Toca.
Toca is a stock corporation registered in Delaware and headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.
