‘CityLegends must become the largest urban community in the world’

Dutch Sport Tech Fund, the investment fund for sports tech companies, is investing in CityLegends, the Eindhoven startup that developed an app on which an “urban community” of 50,000 European artists and athletes can find each other. Through social media, the platform has a reach of millions of young people. The app collaborates with cities such as Eindhoven, Tilburg, London, Ghent and Thessaloniki and brands such as VodafoneZiggo and Ericsson. Lumo Labs previously invested in CityLegends.

CityLegends is an urban sports and culture platform for capturing and sharing “spots,” “jams” and “challenges”. Due to the scalability of the technology and the specific target audience, the platform has great social significance.

URBAN – A BRIEF EXPLANATION FROM CITYLEGENDS FOUNDER JIMMY HERMANS:

> Urban lifestyle is an emerging (youth) culture in which cities are seen as ‘playground’ for unattached athletes and artists. It is a streetwise scene that values creative freedom, imagination, collaboration, generosity, skill acquisition, and constant improvement. Urban is a way of life … for life.
> Urban sports – also called action sports – include skateboarding, BMX, parkour, inline skating, street soccer, and breakdance.
> Spots are where you experience urban and cultural life: where you meet others and where you fall and get back up to learn that one cool trick. This can be a small spot around the corner or a big indoor park.
> Jams are the places and moments where you train with a chill vibe, challenge each other and meet peers. Urban sports and culture are not something you just do; it’s a lifestyle.
> Challenges have a broad definition. It can be that one special place where you’ve always wanted to do a trick or a battle, tournament, or other competition. In competitions, the winners are not necessarily the best athletes but athletes with the most creativity.

Conquering spots in the city

CEO Jimmy Hermans (30) and CTO Thijmen Verkerk (35) noticed as young skaters that they were missing some things. “After all, competitions are only organized for professional urban artists and athletes, but not for the vast majority: amateurs. There is also little cross-pollination between different cities and disciplines because a skater from Roermond does not know what the coolest spots are in Den Bosch. We solve those two problems with CityLegends.”

On CityLegends, “street athletes” compete against each other by posting their creativity (such as a filmed skate trick) on the app, which can be seen in a timeline similar to Instagram. The other users then vote for whose work made the most impression. “The winner thus ‘conquers’ a spot, a battle, or a tournament and wins money or prizes from brands that sponsor CityLegends. We want to create a competitive ecosystem for 99 percent of all urban athletes. That includes skating, BMX, track, stunt stepping, and break dancing.”

50,000 users in Europe

Now that urban disciplines are part of the Olympics, the founders noticed that the sport is getting more attention. “We are helping more and more governments and brands with their urban sports strategy. By now, we are working with Breda, Eindhoven, Tilburg, London, Ghent, Thessaloniki, the Flemish Ministry of Public Health, and the Flemish Skate Association. We are also working with the 5G HUB at the High Tech Campus, which includes VodafoneZiggo and Ericsson.”

“CityLegends can grow into the largest urban community in the world. There are 150 million urban athletes worldwide and one billion fans of these cultures. We notice the potential, as CityLegends’ content gets millions of views on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. We want to connect urban athletes around the world and provide a stage for their skills. Dutch Sport Tech Fund helps us with knowledge and a relevant network. We want to learn from the other B2C sports apps in the portfolio, such as Scorito and Link My Ride. We will use this investment to scale up and eventually even conquer the U.S.”

Alexander Janssen, CEO of Dutch Sport Tech Fund: “We believe in the potential of this start-up as a first mover in a still unorganized sports domain. CityLegends helps to realize active, social, and vibrant communities for all young people in cities around the world. This fits perfectly with our mission to contribute to sports and vitality with smart technology. With CityLegends, we are helping a target group that is not yet reached by other companies.”