By Riley Kaminer
South Florida’s soccer scene is scoring one goal after another – and it’s not just Messi.
This week, Miami-based Plei, a platform that enables users to easily find access to open soccer games in their area, scored a $1.22 million fundraise through crowdfunding platform Republic. Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Duque described a nail-biting situation similar to a penalty shoot-out. “We raised over $600K in the last seven days of the campaign,” he told Refresh Miami.
“It’s a testament to life in general because despite working hard on something, sometimes you don’t really see the results until a moment where things pop off and start going crazy,” he continued. “We kept going, we had a plan and we stuck to it. Thankfully, it paid off.”
So why turn to Republic instead of a more traditional funding round? “For us, it made sense because we have such a large database of users and power users that really believe in the product and the mission we’re on – and wanted to be part of our growth.” He also noted that a crowdfund allows Plei to retain more control of the company than they would through a typical VC deal.
Our local tech community stands to benefit from this fundraise. Plei plans to use these funds to expand its team in Brickell, primarily looking to hire for product, engineering, and sales roles. “We were born here and we want to hire locally,” asserted Duque, a Miami native who founded Plei with his brother and COO Alejandro in 2017. At the moment, Plei has a 30-person team.
These funds will also enable Plei to accelerate its international expansion to Europe and South America. While the details are still under wraps, Duque confirmed that we will see Plei go global within the next three months or so. Plei will also turn on new locations in the US next year.
Plei’s platform, which helps users find pick-up soccer games in their community, is currently active in 16 cities. It has over 200,000 users and 180 sports facilities. This year, Plei is on track to do over $4.5 million in revenue. All this growth comes from a company that has effectively been bootstrapped up to now.
Duque attributes much of Plei’s success to two factors: timing and location. “Being based in Miami, we’re the central hub that connects Latin America, North America, and Europe. Soccer is growing rapidly here in the US. That growth has been happening for a few years, but Messi coming has pushed everything even more forward.”
The growth of Miami’s tech scene has also been a boon for Plei. “Miami has always had everything we needed to become a tech powerhouse. Miami’s much more than a party – we’re hustlers and we all want to make a name for ourselves and for the city.” In his opinion, this mentality has manifested in the recent strides we’ve seen in #MiamiTech.
He also noted that next year’s Copa America soccer tournament will be hosted in the US – as will the 2026 World Cup. “We’re in a position where we really want to make a big impact leading up to the World Cup,” said Duque.
“Now it’s just about us keeping our heads down, feet firmly planted, and continuing to achieve our mission.”
Photo at top: Plei co-founders and brothers Sebastian Duque, CEO, at left, and COO Alejandro Duque.
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