MSL’s MPower Golf technology to grow the game globally

By Mathilda Andersson

Australia’s primary golfing software supplier MSL Solutions (MSL) with their MPower Golf platform has expanded its international footprint by closing two major European enterprises ahead of next year’s ASX listing, and now operates in over 2,000 golf facilities in 12 countries.

The company’s latest acquisition of Scandinavian golfing software giant GolfBox A/S (GolfBox), which was made public late last month, will allow the Brisbane-based firm to tap into Europe’s lucrative golf technology market, and will reinforce MSL’s transnational presence.

The announcement was made shortly after MSL closed a $16 million capital raise and purchased British hospitality software provider Verteda – a hospitality platform providing food and beverage to sport and stadia facilities, ahead of the company’s ASX listing in the first part of 2017.

MSL provides cloud-based and on-site software solutions to membership-based organisations through an open platform environment, allowing it to integrate with a number of other services. The two recent acquisitions are intended to provide complimentary services to the firm and to leverage cross-selling opportunities with their strong client bases.

“We made a decision as a board that we were ready to go international,” MSL Managing Director and Chief Executive Craig Kinross said. “Culturally when you go into Europe, and particularly the UK, their clubs operate in a similar way to Australia and the technology requirements are very similar,”

“Both companies have a lot of synergies going forward so we can add a lot of value to our Australian customers with the products we now own from the European market and vice versa.”

The new venture will see GolfBox, based out of Denmark, continue to operate under its own name as part of a larger group, similarly to the Verteda agreement.

“This new partnership with MSL Solutions is exciting, extremely complementary and provides us with extensive knowledge and international growth opportunities,” GolfBox CEO Christian Faergemann said.

“Having access to more resources only strengthens our position and our combined services provide untold benefits for our stakeholders. Today’s technology changes rapidly and we are now in a prime position to adapt to future technology trends and consumer requirements.”

GolfBox is a major suppliers of administrative software tailored specifically to service the golf industry, with 900 plus golf clubs and major governing bodies and federations in Europe and Australia using their software solutions. MSL has been reselling GolfBox’s tournament software since 2014 and Kinross said the acquisition was a natural step in moving forward for both parties.

“GolfBox was introduced to us by Golf Australia a few years back and we decided to integrate them into our platform. We now have the software running tournaments for Golf Australia, PGA Holden Scramble and Golf NSWintegrated directly back to the Australian handicap system,” he said.

“We’ve had a really good experience working with them and their team, and they’ve given us a lot of confidence about what we can do with them as a company. This means we’re able to bring the companies together in a very complimentary way.”

Back in 2007 MSL acquired Micropower and its resellers, and the enterprise was brought together under one banner and has grown organically and through acquisitions since then. The software start-up reportedly posted $12 million in revenue this financial year and with the international acquisitions is believed to be traveling towards $35-40 million in the 2019 financial year.

“We’re telling a different story to a lot of other technology companies. We’re going to the market with a track record of profitable growth and strong investment back into our software platform,” Kinross said ahead of next years ASX listing.

“We’ve been growing strongly as a company year-on-year for the last three or four years, and are profitable. This means the market has more confidence about us as a business partner and we have been able to get funding to do what we want to do in the market place for the benefit of our customers.

“The reason for listing is so that we can continue to have that access to capital to grow internationally, which means we are a business of scale that can add a lot of benefit to our vertical market.”

The company’s golfing suite MPower Golf works across 12 countries, and with over 1200 golf clubs across Australasia and Europe using their software, soon to expand to over 2,000. It provides industry specific solutions including administration, handicapping, tournament, tee-times and pro-lesson bookings, scorecard printing and leaderboards with back-office integration to help club managers run their businesses.

Click here to read full article in GIC Summer 2016 e-magazine