RosterBot announces >$1M financing, joins Invoke Labs accelerator to take the work out of play

VANCOUVER, May 7, 2014 /CNW/ - RosterBot Inc., a leading team management service and the first of its kind, today announced its first seed financing, which exceeds $1 Million.  The financing was led by Sora Capital (President/CEO Paul Reinhart is a veteran NHL player and investor) with participation from a number of angel investors including David Tedman, co-founder of Hootsuite; and RosterBot co-founder Bret Hedican, also a former NHL player and active broadcaster and entrepreneur.

"I've been fortunate to play at the professional level prior to embarking on my career as an investor, and have since raised three boys from tyke through to pro hockey" said Paul Reinhart of Sora.  "By bringing professional-level organization to competitors from all walks of life, RosterBot is a service that should quickly become essential to all levels of sport, and it's a service that I certainly wish existed 15 years ago when my career as a hockey dad began."

The company has also been accepted into the acceleration program at Invoke Labs, one of Canada's leading startup accelerators.  Invoke has spawned a number of successful startups, including Brightkit and Hootsuite, the latter of which has experienced a surge in profitable growth in the past 4 years and recently raised a whopping $165M.

"RosterBot's core team are building an incredible service for a largely underserved audience," added David Tedman, "and a key factor in their success is that the leadership team are all athletes themselves, and have experienced the problems they are successfully solving for other team-based activities every single week."

Launched as an experiment in 2008, RosterBot pioneered the idea of organizing teams for sports and activities using the web.  Experiencing rapid organic growth, this completely free service grew wildly out-of-control.  RosterBot Inc. was created in 2012 to develop the commercial opportunity that the service's large and actively-engaged audience enables.  A single RosterBot user who creates a team typically leads to between 40 and 70 additional users within one year.

"Users have spoken, and have resoundingly supported our vision to "take the work out of play" said Ian Andrew Bell, RosterBot's creator and founder, "and as a new generation embraces the health benefits of team sports our mission is to grow with them, service their evolving needs, and continue to lead competitors through innovation and a focus on user experience."

Sora President and CEO Paul Reinhart and Microsoft veteran Greg Hope will be joining the RosterBot board of directors immediately.

The company is based in Vancouver, Canada with an office in Silicon Valley.  RosterBot intends to expand its development and marketing teams and to reassert its role as the leader in Team Management services by continuing to roll out innovative applications for the web and mobile.

ABOUT ROSTERBOT

As a leading team management service, RosterBot supports teams in more than 60 countries and more than 350 different types of sports and activities worldwide.  RosterBot's mission is to encourage people to live healthier lives through team activities.  We do this by providing tools that take the work out of play, making it easier for participants to enjoy and share their passion. Learn more at:  http://rosterbot.com

ABOUT INVOKE LABS
Invoke Labs is a business catalyst, partnering with startups to accelerate their growth. Entrepreneurs that partner with Invoke Labs get access to on demand design, development, finance, product management, marketing and community management expertise along with strategic guidance from an executive team with a proven entrepreneurial record. Notable Invoke Labs alumni include HootSuite, Foodee, and BrightKit.

SOURCE: RosterBot

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