Miton takes 50% of Czech padel app Ace in multi-million-crown deal
What's the deal? Investment group MitonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has acquired a 50% stake in AceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Czech padel app built by serial founder Jiří Diblík. Miton is investing in the order of millions of crowns, though neither side disclosed the exact amount or the valuation.
What does Ace do? Ace works as a vertical social network modelled on Strava, giving padel players a rating and match history so they can find opponents and teammates instead of coordinating over WhatsApp. Diblík says about 9,000 people use it — more than half of the estimated 15,000 Czechs who play regularly.
Why now? Ace is the first project in Diblík's app group TBA (The Bold Apps) to take on an outside partner. As part of the deal, Miton partner Tomáš Hodboč joins full-time to run the business and push Ace abroad, while 28-year-old Diblík leads technology and product.
The product: Alongside the deal, Ace is adding FullClub, booking and club-management software it will offer padel clubs for free. Clubs can use it to manage courts, tournaments, payments, and community with no licence fees.
Familiar faces: This is Diblík's second turn with Miton, which in 2020 was the first investor in his mental-health app VOS.healthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. That app was later bought by New York unicorn Spring Health; VOS.health was reportedly sold for single-digit millions of dollars in cash and stock. Diblík's TBA portfolio, led by the Lively app, now runs on more than $10 million in annual recurring revenue.
What could go wrong? Neither clubs nor players pay to use Ace, and the team has no set plan for revenue. "We're focused on how to build a social network for players, and we believe we'll find a way to make money in the future," Diblík told Forbes. He compared the approach to Facebook, which did not prioritise revenue in its early years.
The signal: "Padel is growing faster than anyone can build infrastructure for it," Hodboč said, naming Spanish platform Playtomic as the target rival. The bet is that a vertical social network can ride the sport's surge before monetisation is figured out — a familiar playbook for consumer apps chasing scale first.
Read more: cc.cz
Image credit: Arantxeta89
