From golf to fishing to pickleball, outdoor sports and recreation saw a boom during the pandemic. But unlike some pandemic-driven trends (virtual conferences, Zoom happy hours), the interest in outdoor activities has stuck.
By the end of 2023, outdoor participation grew to a record 175.8 million people, or 57% of all Americans aged 6 and older, according to the Outdoor Industry Association.
But the influx of interest exposed the lack of innovation in many parts of this industry. From over-the-phone bookings to cash payments to a gear market dominated by legacy brands, the outdoor recreation category was full of opportunity for entrepreneurs.
In the past couple of years, entrepreneurs have built SaaS software for hunting and fishing guides. Founders have developed AI-powered companies that find and book golf tee times. Kevin Durant invested in a startup that helps people locate pickleball courts. And the list goes on.
VCs, meanwhile, have been interested as well. In 2019, VCs invested $48.60 million into 25 sports tech companies, according to PitchBook. In 2021 that rose to $949.26 million and 53 companies; in 2023, during the VC winter, investments totaled $189.71 million and 43 companies. While that’s a major crash from 2021 (when VC investing was record-breaking across all industries), the dollars invested last year still represent a 290% increase over 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
Online acceleration
Benjamin Lazarov, the co-founder and CEO of AnyCreek, a startup building booking and back-end business software for fishing and hunting guides, told TechCrunch that he would never have thought of building his company before the pandemic. But then Lazarov tried to book a hunting guide in Vermont in 2022.
He had asked the cashier at a nearby Orvis for some local guide recommendations and she gave him a paper list of seven names to call. As he called and left voicemails, it dawned on him that everything else had moved online during COVID-19, why was he still trying to book a guided hunt over the phone? After that he left his role as a regional director of growth at Compass and launched AnyCreek.
“My thought is that had I tried to start this business five years before COVID-19, no way,” Lazarov said “COVID-19 definitely accelerated the adoption to more technology. There is a new generation of guides that are tech first, mobile first, they are operating every other part of their life online.”
Mallard Bay is another startup bringing hunting and fishing guides online. The Houston, Texas-based company launched in 2019 and saw its site blossom after lockdowns eased in 2021, from 19 guides on the platform to over 100, co-founder and CEO Logan Meaux told TechCrunch.
Loop Golf, a startup that automates finding and booking a tee time at a public golf course, was founded as a response to the increase in new golfers making it difficult for existing players to play. Matthew Holden, the co-founder and CEO of Loop Golf, told TechCrunch in June that he got the idea when he realized that the rise in interest in golf that occurred post-pandemic wasn’t going away.
“It became increasingly more difficult to find a tee time,” Holden said. “I’d be spending hours looking at the different options. I got fed up with it and my wife definitely got fed up with it.”
Behavior changes
When the world was forced to move online, consumers learned to expect to interact with all businesses that way, Lazarov said. People simply don’t want to go back to booking things over the phone, and they want technology to do more for their recreational lives, just as it’s doing in their work and personal lives in other areas.
It’s like a restaurant in New York that updated its point of sale system to handle cashless transactions. “They are never going back,” Lazarov said, because the new POS system “helps them better operate their business. Think of how much more money they can make.”
Scott Holloway, a managing partner at Starting Line, and an investor in AnyCreek, said that people, especially younger generations, are increasingly looking to spend more money on experiences than physical things. This trend has been well-documented in numerous surveys dating back to a decade ago. He added that the companies building the tech to power those experience-based transactions are in a smart position.
Plus, people often need to buy new gear and equipment to do said new activities.
Numerous startups have also popped up to supply gear, clothes and accessories for these new hobbyists. Eastside Golf and Malbon Golf are both venture-backed startups looking to outfit and accessorize new-found golf fans that maybe don’t want to look like 1960’s era Arnold Palmer. Nettie and Recess are startups designing pickleball paddles that don’t look like they came from a retirement community in Florida.
Early venture-backed entrants to this category like Hipcamp, a booking platform for campsites, and AutoCamp, a glamping company, showed that there was consumer appetite for innovation in this category years ago. Now, more than 10 years later, Holloway thinks there is still so much entrepreneurs can do.
There’s reason to believe he’s right. Rental services for things like canoes, kayaks and stand up paddleboards still have websites that look like they were built in 2002. Ditto for those offering services for everything from archery to ziplines. Many businesses in the outdoor recreation category could still use some tech help.
“The market is massive,” Holloway said. “As Marc Andreessen famously said, ‘software is eating the world,’ but this is one of the last pieces of consumer spend that software hasn’t ate. Consumers are demanding it. It’s a massive market opportunity to ride that wave.”