Dink

What Dink does

Dink SRL is an Italian SaaS startup headquartered in Milan that operates a vertical cloud-based management platform purpose-built for beach volleyball clubs, event organizers, and sports academies. The platform is delivered as a modular suite of five integrated products — Events Manager (tournament brackets, scheduling, results, championship ranking), Facility Manager (court booking with configurable pricing and approval workflows), Academy Manager (courses, subscriptions, attendance, athlete and coach records), Open Day Manager (event promotion and registration), and Website & Widgets (turnkey sites with live data widgets) — fronted by a free Athlete App available on iOS and Android that has accumulated 10,000+ athletes and surfaces 1,000+ events per year.

Underlying the product is a self-serve, cloud-hosted architecture accessible via web and mobile, with content and bookings synchronized across touchpoints. Customers (90+ registered clubs including GaLa Sport Academy, Beach for Fun, Derby Monza, Skyball BV School, Masterball Academy, ACTIVE Beach Volley, and B-Cheers) are SMB beach volleyball clubs and Italian Amateur Sports Associations (ASD). Operational scale cited by the company includes 40,000+ subscribed users, 2,500+ tournaments managed, 50,000+ trainings managed, and 65,000+ court reservations processed through the platform.

The business model is recurring SaaS subscription on quote-based pricing, with the athlete-facing mobile app provided for free as a network-effect acquisition channel. Go-to-market is product-led and self-serve, supported by organic content channels (Instagram, YouTube, DinkTalk podcast on Spotify, SEO on dink.social), customer testimonials, and selective strategic partnerships including a sponsorship with Wilson and founding-partner relationships with ACTIVE Beach Volley and Beach For Fun. The company reports no external funding, no institutional investors, and is privately held as an SRL under Italian law.

Name

Dink

Legal name

Dink SRL

Website

https://dink.social

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dink is a Milan-based Italian SaaS startup offering a modular, cloud-based management platform built specifically for beach volleyball clubs, event organizers, and sports academies, supported by a free Athlete App that drives two-sided network effects across 90+ clubs and 10,000+ athletes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Club Management Software

NAICS

Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (713940)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Volleyball Leagues (MPAKAAAL)

Keywords

• Sports club management
• Beach volleyball software
• Tournament management platform
• Facility booking software
• Academy management system

Headquarters

HQ city

Milan

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Management Software Subscription: Clubs and sports organizations pay for access to Dink's management platform modules (Events Manager, Facility Manager, Academy Manager, Open Day Manager, Website & Widgets). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Dink sells a modular, cloud-based SaaS platform for managing beach volleyball clubs, tournaments, facilities, academies, and open days, paired with a free iOS/Android Athlete App that engages athletes and creates network effects for club customers. The offering bundles five modules (Events Manager, Facility Manager, Academy Manager, Open Day Manager, Website & Widgets) into a single integrated system used by 90+ clubs across Europe.

Product overview

Dink is a comprehensive sports club management platform with a modular architecture consisting of five core product modules: Events Manager (tournament and event management), Facility Manager (court booking and scheduling), Academy Manager (courses, subscriptions, and training management), Open Day Manager (event promotion and registration), and Website & Widgets (integrated website and data widgets). All modules interface with a dedicated free mobile app (Athlete App) available on iOS and Android, creating a unified ecosystem for beach volleyball clubs, event promoters, and sports academies. The platform serves over 90 registered clubs with 40,000+ subscribed users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Events Manager Comprehensive tournament and event management system that enables beach volleyball clubs to publish events, manage athlete registrations, configure brackets, schedule matches, and publish real-time results with automatic championship rankings. Designed for clubs, event organizers, and federations running competitive beach volleyball tournaments.
• Facility Manager Court and facility booking management system that allows beach volleyball clubs to configure facilities, time slots, and price lists; automate bookings; collect fees in advance; and reduce no-show cancellations through approval workflows. Built for clubs and academies managing court inventory.
• Academy Manager Course and training management module for beach volleyball academies covering athlete profiles, subscriptions, transactions, attendance and absence tracking, document management, staff and coach coordination, and course scheduling. Includes a dedicated coach mode accessible from the mobile app.
• Open Day Manager Open day planning and promotion tool that enables beach volleyball clubs to organize events, collect athlete registrations, manage participant lists, and promote activities via social media and WhatsApp. Designed to help clubs attract new athletes through trial events.
• Website & Widgets Turnkey website builder integrated with the Dink management system, providing content automatically synced from operational data, SEO optimization, and embeddable widgets that display real-time Dink data on existing club websites. Targeted at amateur sports associations without dedicated technical staff.
• Athlete App Free iOS and Android mobile application for beach volleyball athletes providing access to club information, activity calendars, training registrations, tournament results, rankings, and community features. Functions as a network-effect driver that connects athletes to clubs on the platform.

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• WilsonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWilson is a historic sports equipment company that has partnered with Dink as an early supporter. Wilson provides sponsorship and support for the beach volleyball community that Dink serves.
• ACTIVE Beach VolleycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACTIVE Beach Volley is described as the first and only federal beach volleyball club in Bologna. They are a founding partner and customer of Dink, having invested in and supported the project from early stages.
• Beach For FunminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBeach For Fun is an ASD (Amateur Sports Association) in the province of Novara that puts people and well-being first. They are an early believer and partner of Dink.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Stack Sports: Stack Sports is a global sports technology platform offering registration, payments, websites, and tournament management tools across multiple sports. It overlaps with Dink across core club management and event management modules.
• TeamSnap: TeamSnap is a leading team and club management SaaS platform serving youth, recreational, and competitive sports organizations. It is a broader incumbent that overlaps with Dink on roster, scheduling, payment, and communication features for sports clubs.
• SportsEngine: SportsEngine (owned by NBC Sports Next) is a comprehensive sports management platform covering registration, websites, tournaments, and communication for sports clubs and leagues. It is comparable as a broad incumbent addressing many of the same club-operations workflows as Dink.

Direct peers

• PlayMetrics: PlayMetrics provides club and league management software focused on youth and amateur sports organizations with registration, scheduling, and communication tools. It is comparable to Dink as a vertical sports club management SaaS serving amateur associations.
• LeagueApps: LeagueApps provides sports club and league management software for registrations, scheduling, payments, and communication. It is a direct SaaS competitor to Dink in club-management workflows, although LeagueApps serves multiple sports rather than specializing in beach volleyball.

Emerging players

• Upper Hand: Upper Hand provides sports facility and program management SaaS covering facility booking, registration, and payments for sports businesses. It is comparable as an emerging competitor addressing facility booking and program administration similar to Dink's Facility and Academy Managers.
• Heja Sports: Heja is a mobile-first sports team and club management app used by amateur clubs for scheduling, communication, attendance, and payments. It is comparable as an emerging lightweight club-management tool targeting similar SMB sports organizations.
• TixTrack: TixTrack provides event registration, ticketing, and tournament management software for sports events and clubs. It is comparable as an emerging competitor addressing event registration and tournament workflows similar to Dink's Events Manager module.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@dinkbeachvolley
• Instagraminstagram.com/dinkbeachvolley
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dink-srl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dink