Rec Launches with $6.2M to Transform the Parks & Recreation Experience

Rec, a startup helping cities play more sports, today launched out of stealth with $6.2M in Seed funding from NFX, Precursor Ventures, and Long Journey Ventures. Rec’s platform replaces painful online booking experiences, snail mail marketing, and clunky administrative tools, to help municipalities get their residents playing. Rec already works with cities across California including Torrance, Emeryville, Rocklin, and Santa Cruz County.

The Challenge: Outdated Systems and Frustrated Residents

Participation in sports and fitness has skyrocketed in the US post-pandemic. Overall participation is already 10% higher than pre-Covid levels, with tennis and golf growing 20% and pickleball growing 150%. Locally, municipalities are struggling to keep up – Residents strain to find local facilities, program registration can be stressful, and access to instruction is both limited and expensive. The advancements in technology seen over the past two decades have largely skipped over the local Parks Department, resulting in a resident experience still centered around the same printed activity guide that existed decades ago.

Said Andrew Lenz of Santa Cruz, CA, “As a tennis and pickleball player, I was growing frustrated with my local play options. I’m very glad to see Rec come to our community in Santa Cruz. Over the past few months, I now actually know what’s happening at my local courts, have participated in new classes and clinics, and recently I even started teaching on the Rec platform to pay it forward in my community.”

Rec’s Solution: Reimagining Local Recreation

Rec is building a deep understanding of the challenges faced by Parks and Rec staff, and is using technology to reimagine the Rec experience in every city. Developed in partnership with Parks staff, recreation experts and community leaders, the software focuses on increasing community participation by providing a one-stop-shop for parks and rec staff to deliver best in class program administration, launch coach and instructor driven programs, and run marketing campaigns that actually reach residents.

“My team spends painstaking hours ensuring every citizen has access to fitness and activity in our city. The Rec Platform is unlike anything we’ve had before. It has given my staff a set of superpowers – clearly designed to support them in their mission to build stronger, healthier communities.” - Garrett Craig, City of Torrance

How Rec Generates More Participation

The Rec platform also includes tools for instructors to increase offerings, for the community to play and learn together, and for rec centers and park facilities to deliver modern on-premise experiences. Over time, Rec expects to create even more local recreation opportunities by extending its platform to additional community facilities such as those in schools, churches, and apartment complexes.

“We see incredible potential in the network of municipal rec centers, public parks, school facilities, coaches and facilitators, and local organizers that exist across America. We’re thrilled to see cities start leveraging Rec to power a more modern, accessible, and community-driven sports & recreation experience that has to-date only been available to the members of a country club”. - Birju Kadakia, co-founder Rec

“This is a consumer-facing software solution that will really change how people enjoy the towns they live in,” explained James Currier, General Partner of NFX. “It has a tremendous network effect where the more recreational facilities it has in the system, the more users it will have, which will draw in more facilities and towns. Eventually, every town in America could be enabled by Rec.”

About Rec

Rec was founded by Rachel Williams and Birju Kadakia, early Uber employees who were frustrated with the antiquated experience that existed around being active, picking up hobbies, and building community in their own city. Inspired by the transformation of urban transportation and delivery during their time at Uber, Rachel and Birju are now working to reimagine the network that exists around recreation in any city.

“I’m lucky to have been a part of teams that transformed how we move, how we eat, and how we consume media. We launched Rec because we see “technology decisions” in Parks & Rec still centered on choosing from booking tools that haven’t seen meaningful innovation in a generation. We’re building a team that’s excited to totally rethink local recreation, and build new products and experiences that improve daily life in every community.” -Rachel Williams, co-founder, Rec

Founded in 2022 in San Francisco, the company is backed by NFX, Precursor Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Springbank Collective and leading angel investors from Uber, Google, The Athletic, and more. Explore their product and available cities at https://www.rec.us

Contact Information

Riley Munks

Media Contact

Rec

comms@rec.us