LETTER FROM SMARTABASE’S CEO & CO-FOUNDER, MARKUS DEUTSCH, ON THE ACQUISITION BY TEAMWORKS
It’s my great pleasure to share some very exciting news with you – Smartabase (formerly known as Fusion Sport) has been acquired by Teamworks, an enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations.
While our press release provides much of the detail, I wanted to share some additional context regarding how this came about, why we made this decision, and what it means for the future of Smartabase and our ability to serve your organization.
Over the last few years, I got to know the CEO of Teamworks, Zach Maurides. Given our non-competitive yet highly complementary products, our friendly talks often focused on our respective strategies for serving the needs of our clients and what we felt could be done better.
In May 2022, Smartabase set out to secure a Series B capital raise to fund the next phase of Smartabase’s growth. I called Zach for a recommendation for a good investment banker, which he kindly offered. That July, as we launched our capital raise process, Zach threw me a curve ball and proposed that, instead of raising capital, we join Teamworks.
The Smartabase leadership team approached Zach’s offer with a healthy combination of curiosity and skepticism. It quickly became clear that joining Teamworks was the right thing to do for our clients and staff.
We were two companies starting from different places but inevitably heading towards each other. Both companies leading their respective fields. Both companies looking to develop what the other company already had. For example, several of our clients had been requesting more tools for athlete and service member engagement, scheduling, communications, recruiting, nutrition, and coaching. While Teamworks’ clients were looking for solutions to support the health, wellness, and development of their athletes.
Zach was right – why should each company spend tens of millions of dollars over several years to develop what the other company already built?
It would be a big win for our sport, military, and public safety clients. Unified on the Teamworks operating system, Smartabase could accelerate it’s development timeline and be part of an ecosystem of best-in-class technologies that could support athletes, service members, and first responders throughout their experience – from recruitment to retirement. Our clients could simplify and integrate their human performance tech stack and ultimately realize a return on their investment faster. 1 + 1 would indeed = 3.
What’s more, our respective company’s values and cultures are very similar. From my previous experience with not-so-smooth mergers, I knew this was the key to realizing the potential of our new marriage. The minute we walked through the door at the Teamworks’ HQ, it felt right. We were confident the Smartabase staff would feel at home working alongside talented (and fun-loving) individuals who are equally as obsessed with creating the best solution on the market and providing remarkable service to our clients.
That leads us to today and the announcement of this acquisition. Now we are one. We are Teamworks.
2023 will be the beginning of an exciting new chapter for all of us. I will continue on with Teamworks and transition into President of Smartabase where I’ll focus on what I do best – developing great technology and helping move the human performance industry forward.
There is much work to be done, and not everything will be smooth sailing. But we will succeed, and our clients will reap the benefits. Of that I am certain.
Sincerely,
Markus Deutsch, PhD
