Piing
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersManchester, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Piing does
Piing is a Manchester-headquartered (registered Stockport), remote-first software company that operates a browser-based crowd gaming platform for stadium-scale live events. Its core technology allows fans to join games by scanning a QR code on the stadium big screen — no app download required — and use their phones as controllers for real-time, mass-participation games including PenKick (penalty shootouts) and Quiiz (live trivia), with the platform proven to synchronize 50,000+ simultaneous players. Piing also offers a Game CMS for rapid team kit customization, an "earned data" opt-in flow (65% opt-in rates), and integrates Dolby.io ultra-low-latency streaming for presenter-driven experiences.
Piing monetizes through a hybrid B2B model: (a) multi-year supplier agreements with sports rights holders such as Manchester City FC, Charlotte FC, AFC Ajax, and Brighton & Hove Albion, embedding Piing in matchday pre-game, halftime, and hospitality entertainment; and (b) per-event brand activations for sponsors and advertisers including McLaren Racing, Adidas, Auto Trader, Barclays, and Allwyn, often delivered in partnership with agencies like MKTG. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales, complemented by channel partners and event-driven deployments at venues from Wimbledon's queue to the AO Arena and Printworks Manchester.
The company is self-funded, private (Piing Ltd, incorporated in England & Wales), and operates with a small team. It has accumulated reference customers across at least four sports verticals (football, tennis, F1/motorsport, basketball) and three continents, holds three Guinness World Records, won the 2025 Sports Technology Awards category for Best Technology for Fan Engagement, and has signaled it is "ready to talk to investors" to underwrite continued US and Southern Europe expansion.
Piing firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Piing
- Legal name
- Piing Ltd
- Website
- https://piing.events
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Piing industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Fan Engagement Technology
- NAICS
- Spectator Sports (71121)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro industry
- Game Streaming & Spectatorship Platforms
Keywords
Where Piing is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Manchester
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Piing business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Brand Activations: Custom branded games for brands at sporting events. Brands like McLaren, Wimbledon/Barclays, Thompson, Auto Trader get visible integrated brand experiences.
- Rights Holder Partnerships: Multi-year supplier agreements with sports clubs (Manchester City FC, Charlotte FC, Ajax) for matchday entertainment.
- Fan Data Collection: Opt-in marketing data collection (65% opt-in rate) and first-party data earned through gameplay before collection.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Piing product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Piing operates a real-time crowd gaming platform that enables entire stadiums of fans (50,000+) to play simultaneous browser-based arcade games on big screens using their smartphones as controllers via QR code access, with no app download required. The platform delivers flagship games including PenKick (penalty shootout) and Quiiz (live trivia) plus customized variants for sports clubs, brands, and event organizers, supporting brand activations, sponsorship integration, and first-party data collection at sporting venues worldwide.
Product overview
Piing is a crowd gaming platform that delivers big games on big screens for large-scale events and venues. The core platform enables mass-participation arcade games (50,000+ players) where fans use their phones as controllers via browser-based QR code access. The product portfolio centers on two flagship offerings: PenKick (penalty shootout game) and Quiiz (interactive quiz gameshow), supplemented by game variants including Footy Rebound, Footy Racer, Basketball Racer, Soccer Race, Soccer Tennis, Hockey Racer, Piing Prix, Buggy Race, and Mountain Biking. Piing also creates branded game variants for partners such as McLaren (Racing Game), Barclays (Tennis Racer), and Adidas (Quiiz). The platform is deployed at stadiums, fan parks, watch parties, and venues worldwide, integrating with big screen displays and offering data collection, sponsorship integration, and brand activation capabilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Games for Crowds Platform Mass-participation arcade gaming platform enabling entire stadiums of fans to play games simultaneously using smartphones as controllers via browser-based QR code access, with big screen displays, real-time synchronization, and data collection capabilities.
- PenKick Penalty shootout game where crowd members scan a QR code to take penalty kicks displayed on the stadium big screen, with team selection, simultaneous shots, and individual speed/accuracy rankings.
- Quiiz Interactive quiz gameshow running on big screens with audience participation via smartphones, supporting 50,000+ players with customizable questions, live presenter interaction, and branded integrations.
- Footy Rebound Football rebound game in Piing's suite of crowd games available for fan engagement activations at venues such as Brighton & Hove Albion.
- Footy Racer
Quantifiable outcome
- 50,000+ simultaneous players in single game
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Piing
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Piing technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature6 records
Piing partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
23 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- McLaren RacingflagshipCustom racing game featuring vintage McLaren cars at Live London event with 1,100+ Quiiz players and 270 racing game players. Brand activation featuring McLaren partner Allwyn.
- Manchester City FCcoreOfficial Crowd Games Supplier multi-year deal enabling fans to play Piing games pre-match and at half-time in Etihad Stadium and Joie Stadium across men's and women's matches. Includes fanzones, Blue Carpet experience, and hospitality areas. First Premier League club to have such an arrangement.
- Bristol Street Motors EXCELR8coreOfficial BTCC partner with bespoke EXCELR8-branded game in fanzones, hospitality unit, and on the road at events. Piing branding on race car livery.
- Charlotte FCcoreSeason-long partnership bringing PenKick halftime games to MLS. First 17 games with founding partner Ally in collaboration with MKTG. Expanded in 2026 with club partner Thompson. Generated 52,000+ players across 18 home games.
- Tampa Bay Rays/RowdiesminorUS market expansion bringing games to baseball and soccer stadiums for major league fixtures.
- Lorraine O'BriencoreNon-Executive Director appointment bringing 25+ years sports marketing experience from Chelsea FC, Everton FC, global commercial partnerships.
- Fando FootballminorInteractive pre-show Quiiz competition for global soccer gameshow 'Glo-ball' with prizes up to £1,000.
- AFC AjaxcoreWorld's biggest penalty shootout game at Johan Cruijff ArenA with 53,000+ fans. Created massive shared moment with team-based gameplay and 3D avatars.
- Wimbledon/AELTCflagshipBarclays Tennis Racer game in the queue transforming waiting time into fun. 8,221 players across 423 races with grass court obstacles.
- AllwynminorPartner brand featured in McLaren racing game at Live London activation.
- Thompson (Charlotte FC Sponsor)minorTraining kit sponsor and club partner for Charlotte FC PenKick games in 2026 MLS season.
- American Express (Brighton & Hove Albion)minorPartner brand featured in Terrace fanzone interactive games at Brighton matches.
- Riyadh Air (Atletico Madrid)minorCommercial partner for pop-up activation with PenKick game outside Metropolitano stadium.
- MKTGcoreAgency partner for Charlotte FC/ALLY activation bringing Piing games to MLS.
- Auto Trader UKcoreGuinness World Record-breaking Quiiz with 7,297 players for electric vehicle marketing campaign. Partnership since 2020 for employee engagement quizzes.
- Dolby.iocoreUltra-low latency streaming service integrated into Piing platform enabling tight feedback loop between players and presenters for TV-like experience.
- Movistar EstudiantesminorFirst Spanish basketball club to invest in interactive gaming - 30% stadium participation (2,192 fans) at WiZink Center Madrid.
- AIX LIVEflagshipEuro 2024 Fan Park activations at AO Arena Manchester with 15,000+ England fans across quarter-final, semi-final, and final matches.
- Samsung KXminorGaming activations at Samsung King's Cross venue as part of Sport Industry Group Social event.
- Johan Cruijff ArenAcoreDigital fan engagement for stadium tours following Reimagine Football award win.
- BarclaysflagshipSponsor for Tennis Racer at Wimbledon queue activation.
- AdidasflagshipQuiiz powered at Euro 2024 halftime and Germany vs Netherlands match at Allianz Arena. Remote participation via Adidas app.
- Printworks ManchestercoreGames on Europe's largest digital ceiling and Pump Yard screen. Part of £21m venue refurbishment. 5,000+ players since March.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Piing competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Stats Perform: Large sports data and AI company providing live data, betting feeds and Opta-powered fan experiences to leagues, media and brands. Broadly comparable as an incumbent sports-tech vendor serving the same rights-holder and brand customers Piing sells to, though focused on data rather than on-stadium crowd games.
- Sportradar: Global sports data and technology company serving leagues, media and betting operators with live data, content and ad-tech. Comparable as a large incumbent selling technology to the same global sports ecosystem that Piing targets, with broader scope but less focus on in-stadium crowd gaming.
- Hawk-Eye Innovations (Sony): Sports officiating, broadcast and fan-engagement technology owned by Sony, deployed across tennis, football, cricket and basketball. Broad incumbent overlap on stadium technology stacks and customer relationships at elite rights-holders.
Direct peers
- Satisfi Labs: Conversational AI fan-engagement platform for sports, entertainment and retail, used by MLB, MLS, NASCAR and Live Nation to deliver real-time interaction and data capture. Direct overlap on driving opt-in first-party data and sponsor ROI through live-event interactions.
- Supponor: Virtual advertising and broadcast augmentation technology for live sports, enabling sponsors to deliver region-specific, in-stadium brand activations. Comparable on enabling sponsor monetization inside stadium experiences, though focused on broadcast virtual signage rather than crowd gameplay.
- WSC Sports: AI-powered sports content and fan-engagement platform serving leagues, broadcasters and brands globally with real-time personalized video and engagement tooling. Comparable in serving elite sports rights-holders with technology that turns live events into interactive, monetizable fan experiences.
- Captive Media: UK-based venue interactive gaming company deploying phone-controlled, big-screen games in bars, venues and stadiums. Most direct overlap with Piing on the use of phones-as-controllers for crowd-scale gameplay, though focused historically on retail/hospitality venues rather than elite sports rights-holders.
Emerging players
- Zoomph: Sports sponsorship analytics and fan-engagement platform measuring social, content and sponsorship ROI for rights-holders and brands. Comparable on the data-monetization and sponsor-measurement angle that supports Piing's value prop to brand customers.
- Cosm: Immersive shared-experience venues combining large-format LED screens with real-time sports and entertainment content for crowds. Comparable on the "big screen + crowd + real-time data" formula Piing uses, with focus on physical venues rather than stadium-deployable games.
- Greenfly: Content collection, distribution and activation platform used by sports organizations and brands to capture and amplify fan-generated and event content. Adjacent comparable on the sponsor ROI, content activation and rights-holder tooling dimensions of Piing's proposition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Piing social profiles
Digital presencePiing financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Piing leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Piing funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Piing M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Piing
What does Piing do?
Piing operates a real-time crowd gaming platform that enables entire stadiums of fans (50,000+) to play simultaneous browser-based arcade games on big screens using their smartphones as controllers via QR code access, with no app download required. The platform delivers flagship games including PenKick (penalty shootout) and Quiiz (live trivia) plus customized variants for sports clubs, brands, and event organizers, supporting brand activations, sponsorship integration, and first-party data collection at sporting venues worldwide.
Is Piing a public or private company?
Piing is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Piing founded?
Piing was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Piing based?
Piing is headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Piing make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Brand Activations are the primary driver. The others are rights Holder Partnerships and fan Data Collection.
Who are Piing's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Stats Perform, Sportradar and Hawk-Eye Innovations (Sony). Direct peers are Satisfi Labs, Supponor, WSC Sports and Captive Media. Emerging players are Zoomph, Cosm and Greenfly.
Does Piing have an API?
No public API is recorded for Piing.
What industry is Piing in?
Piing's product category is Fan Engagement Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAKAI, Game Streaming & Spectatorship Platforms. Its NAICS code is 71121 and its SIC code is 7900.