The Fly-Fut team, which already has more than 150 pilots dedicated to recording games using drone technology, is currently working on innovation processes that allow them to continuously improve their technology and the scalability of their lines of business internationally.
For its founders, Luís Llagostera and Iván López Rios, Fly-Fut is a dream come true. A dream that they share with all those football fans: anyone who has played, is aware of the leap in value of being able to have Games recorded in good quality and to be able to revive them whenever needed.
The company, founded 4 years ago and based in Madrid, makes use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and drone technology to provide the teams with whom he works with an application from which to view the games played in two formats, a summary video with the best plays of the match (published using its own technology that automatically identifies the most important milestones) and the full game. The use of Fly-FUT makes it easier for clubs to implement comprehensive analysis processes, both for their own players and those of the rival team.
Although in the beginning the team had focused on La Liga as its main customer, it soon understood that it was the players and their families that the solution provides the real value, these being the consumers of the content generated by themselves. Thus, Fly-fut works under a CaaS business model (Content-as-a-Service), where soccer teams subscribe so that all their members have access to the content. Previously, the subscription to Fly-Fut was done through an individual plan for each of the players.
The company currently works with three different lines of business, Fly-Fut Pro, Fly-Fut Performance and Fly-Fut Leagues/Tournaments, for the aerial analysis of first-level team training, the recording of third-division team matches and the recording of federated and non-federated junior competitions (where a global monitoring of the category is carried out through agreements with territorial federations), respectively. Through these lines, Fly-Fut is able to provide service to all football teams that require it, regardless of their level.
The value provided by the Fly-Fut solution has been especially relevant during the pandemic. When government measures prevented public access to many of the soccer fields, the recordings allowed, and allow, family members to enjoy their children's games in good quality, without losing any detail.
The tool developed by Fly-Fut also provides value to other members of the world of football, such as referees, federations and committees, who can make use of the recordings to improve, to have a vision of the players' progress or to resolve conflict situations, respectively. On the other hand, due to the large amount of data available to the company on the preferences of amateur players, Fly-Fut collaborates with major sports brands such as Adidas, offering specific discounts based on them.
In addition, aware of the importance of quality when it comes to drone recording, the team has created Fly-Fut Academy, through which all drivers pass before becoming employees of the company, which allows them to homogenize the quality of the recordings and prevent it from depending on the quality of the pilot and their understanding of the game.
With the funds obtained from the Cervera Program, the Fly-Fut team is working to improve their solution, which will allow them to scale the platform and achieve one of their medium-term objectives: to record a total of 25,000 games every weekend.
Specifically, the project developed in collaboration with the Technological Center -ITI, worthy of assistance from the Cervera Program, focuses on the “Automation and decentralization of the editing of soccer recordings with drones”.
The objective of the project is clear: to provide more intelligence to its post-party editing models, achieving, on the one hand, a solution where anyone with a device with an internet connection can edit the games and, on the other hand, optimize the detection of events, automating the process and increasing the quality of the final result delivered to the customer and reducing the time in which Fly fut is able to provide its users with edited videos (from 48 hours to just 12 minutes).
This improvement would represent a leap for Fly-Fut, which would no longer be so dependent on the publishers that are part of the team, and would consequently guarantee the scalability of the solution. The company, which began with a focus on amateur football and has evolved into professional football, at the same time as its technology, today aspires to become a technology provider within the club itself.
Not only does Fly-Fut provide value to its customers, it also provides value for its investors. The team has achieved successfully close 3 rounds of funding for a total value of 3.5M € (its shareholders include relevant figures such as Fernando Hierro and Iker Casillas, through SportBoost) and has been beneficiary of an Enisa loan worth 200,000€.
Cervera Program
Through aid Cervera for Technology Centres, the CDTI offers funding for startups and SMEs that create or develop a significant improvement of a production process, product or service. The line aims to promote the development of R&D projects in collaboration with State-wide Technology Centres.
Startups and SMEs benefiting from the program have access to partially reimbursable grants with coverage of up to 85% of the total budget, aimed at financing projects lasting between 12 and 36 months, with a minimum fundable budget of 175,000€.
From Intelectium, we have become the leading financial partner for Fly-Fut. The first help we have obtained for them was the Cervera Program of the CDTI. We will keep you updated on the company's news!
