PodPlay Raises $8M to Power the Best Pickleball Court Booking App

In the past twelve months, the seamless pickleball court booking app has tripled its revenue and eclipsed one million users over 200 locations. More player-friendly features are on the way.

Imagine a world where you book court time at your favorite pickleball venue straight from your phone. The process is quick, intuitive, and easy to navigate. It looks nice, too; the app is sleek and minimalist.

Like if Apple entered the pickleball space.

The experience extends further. The app unlocks the building's front door for you. Then directs you to your designated court. Once you're in full swing, the platform can track your game on a digital scoreboard while playing your favorite playlist.

That epic firefight? One click of a button and the video snippet will be saved for eternity, seamlessly sent to your email and primed for bragging rights.

This is the world of PodPlay. And it exists right now. Your favorite spot might be using its state-of-the-art tech already.

Thanks to an $8 million funding round, it's about to get even better — and make this type of frictionless pickleball experience a reality for hundreds, or thousands, more facilities around the country. Then the world.

More Fun, Less Friction from Your Pickleball Court Booking App

Booking an open play or reserving a court with friends can be a real hassle. The software is glitchy and dated. It's difficult to filter by skill level or event type.

Adding people is annoying. Oh, you need to change the time from 2pm to 3:30? Yeah, you'll need to give us a call for that.

PodPlay Technologies exists to remove friction at every conceivable point, both for the club owner and the club-goer.

Its full-stack platform integrates reservations, memberships, coaching, events, payments, even 24/7 remote monitoring. Clubs using PodPlay have reduced labor costs by up to 66%.

"PodPlay was built to make sports venues both more human and more autonomous," said Max Kogler, the company's co-founder and CEO.

“Our platform lets owners focus on community and experience while technology handles the rest."

For the consumer, that means booking the court is a breeze. And playing is a lot more fun, too, thanks to proprietary technology that adds goodies like video replays, digital scoreboards, interactive entertainment, and more.

The replay functionality in particular has proven incredibly popular. It's one thing to experience the joy of a 50-shot dink rally or your first ATP. But PodPlay has unlocked the possibility of a new on-court thrill: the elation of running over to smash the "Replay" button and knowing you've captured that moment for all of time.

And it's yours to keep.

Already, the function has been used more than a million times.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Dink Pickleball (@thedinkpickleball)

From Manhattan Ping-Pong to a Global Pickleball Court Booking App

PodPlay began as PingPod, an autonomous table tennis concept that opened its first location on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in February of 2020. No onsite staffing meant considerably lower operating costs — enabling prime locations, especially within cities.

The business model not only survived, it thrived through COVID. PingPod was deemed as one of the first non-essential businesses to reopen its doors again. Nine-foot ping-pong tables demanded social distancing.

Reservations through the app assisted contact tracing efforts, if needed.

By 2023, they had more than 20 self-operating locations. And proof-positive that the online reservation business would never be the same.

It wasn't long before another paddle sport came knocking. Pickleball was surging in the American consciousness at the same time, and consumers and clubs were looking for an easier way to book court time. CityPickle Debuts Flagship Location in NYC's Times Square

"The market kind of pulled it out of us," said Kogler.

"We had a lot of customers at PingPod who were starting to play pickleball."

By mid-2023, they had partnered with CityPickle, one of the country's most prolific pickleball venue operators, to roll out their tech across locations.

In the past twelve months, PodPlay has tripled its revenue. And they just crossed one million users over 200 locations, including Pickleball Kingdom, Performance Pickleball, SPF, and St. Pete Athletic.

The Pickleball Court Booking App Powering America's Fastest-Growing Sport

Why This Venue Technology Platform Matters Right Now

Today, PodPlay announced its Series A round led by Frontier Growth, a growth equity investment firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that specializes in partnering with founders of vertical SaaS companies to help them scale.

"Our diligence revealed an exceptional level of customer passion for PodPlay — operators who describe it as transformative for their venues and communities," said Dave Pandullo, Partner at Frontier Growth.

"That customer love underscores a significant opportunity to replace the dated, fragmented tools that exist in the market today with a modern, integrated platform purpose-built for participatory sports."

It only makes sense that the fastest-growing sport in America would require a forward-looking, player-first tech platform that could keep up. As CBS News has covered, facilities across the country are scrambling to meet surging player demand — making smarter court reservation software more essential than ever.

"The future of sports venues is connected, digital, and frictionless," said Ben Borton, Co-Founder of PodPlay. "Frontier's track record with vertical SaaS leaders will help us scale faster without losing what makes these communities special."

Building the Platform That Scales with Pickleball's Growth

With new capital and independence, PodPlay will expand its engineering, sales, and customer-success teams to support rapid adoption and product expansion. It's also keen on bringing even more critical club operation functionality into the tech stack, like integrated content management capabilities.

The investment arrives at a pivotal moment. New pickleball facilities are being built across the country at record pace, and the cost and complexity of building and running a dedicated pickleball venue are pushing operators to demand smarter tools. With over 200 locations already on the platform, PodPlay's pickleball court booking app is quickly becoming the operating system for the next generation of club venues.

The pickleball equipment market is also surging alongside facility growth. With Amazon pickleball paddle sales up 55% in 2025, the broader ecosystem is clearly healthy — and a frictionless booking and membership experience is increasingly what separates top-tier facilities from the rest.

Operators like Pickleball Kingdom, Performance Pickleball, SPF, and St. Pete Athletic are already proof of that vision at scale. And indoor pickleball franchise growth shows no sign of slowing, creating a growing addressable market for platforms like PodPlay.

For clubs exploring this kind of integrated venue management, the CourtReserve platform also made headlines with its own major funding round — a sign that investors across the board recognize pickleball technology as one of the most compelling growth verticals in sports today.

"Partnering with Frontier gives us the runway to accelerate product innovation and bring PodPlay to thousands of venues worldwide," added Max.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a pickleball court booking app and how does it work?

A pickleball court booking app is a digital platform that allows players to reserve court time, manage memberships, and view event schedules directly from a smartphone. The best platforms, like PodPlay, go further by integrating digital scoreboards, video replay, and remote facility access control to create a richer on-court experience from start to finish.

What makes PodPlay different from other pickleball reservation software?

PodPlay is a full-stack venue management platform purpose-built for participatory sports like pickleball. Unlike basic scheduling tools, it handles reservations, memberships, coaching, events, payments, and 24/7 remote monitoring in one integrated system — while also delivering consumer-facing features like instant video replay and interactive scoreboards that no legacy software offers.

How much can a pickleball facility save by using PodPlay?

Clubs using PodPlay have reported labor cost reductions of up to 66%. The platform's autonomous operating capabilities — including remote building access and automated reservations — reduce the need for full-time on-site staffing, which is one of the single largest overhead costs for indoor sports venues.

Which pickleball facilities currently use PodPlay's platform?

PodPlay's current operator network includes Pickleball Kingdom, Performance Pickleball, SPF, and St. Pete Athletic, among others. The platform recently surpassed one million users across more than 200 locations and continues to expand as club operators seek modern, integrated pickleball court booking app solutions to replace dated, fragmented tools.

What does PodPlay's $8 million Series A funding mean for pickleball players?

The $8 million Series A led by Frontier Growth will accelerate PodPlay's product expansion and allow the company to grow its engineering, sales, and customer-success teams. For players, that means more features, more locations offering the platform, and a more seamless court reservation experience — making it easier than ever to find, book, and enjoy time on the court wherever they play.