RM 1,318,219.25

As a 2 sided marketplace, we help golfers connect for tee times, and  golf courses to find these golfers for their tee times.  

There are a few stakeholders for Deemples: 

• 1.   Golfers 
• 2.   Golf clubs (groups/societies/organisations) 
• 3.   Golf courses 

use Deemples primarily to find other golfers to golf with. They post  games and let others join, or just browse for games and join whichever  that fits.  

We reach out and market Deemples to golfers via: 

• Cash incentives (in early stages of a city) 
• Content marketing - blogs, social media
• Paid digital ads - Facebook, Google, Apple
• Banners and posters at golf facilities (golf courses, driving  ranges, and retail shops) 
• Guerilla marketing - talking to golfers at golf driving ranges and  golf course restaurants.  
• Activation - events (mostly golf competitions, but sometimes  also golf education workshops, golf clinics by coaches, etc) that  we (or a host we work with) host on Deemples. 

hosts regular and consistent games for their members. Deemples  makes tracking sign ups, payments, handicaps, and even score  submission and results easy for the golf club. Aside from cost savings  from purchasing other golf software, and easy management of their  group, they can also recruit new members from the rest of the golfers  using Deemples. 

There’s also a chat in each game, so the hosts can provide timely  updates only to players joined in that game. 

We put a guide up for the best practices for hosting games on  Deemples: 

realised that instead of waiting for golfers to decide to play at their golf  course, golf courses started hosting their own games at their own golf  courses instead. This was a turning point since the golf courses had  access to their own tee times and knew what was available so golfers  joining their games didn’t have to call the golf course to check  availability and make reservations anymore. 

Special requests could also be made by the golfers to the golf courses  via the game chat. Golf courses also started using the game chat to get  feedback from golfers after the game.  

Golf courses were given special access to an admin panel that allowed  them to view both upcoming and previous games, and also chat into all  games happening at their golf course regardless if they were the hosts.  This allowed them to assist in any booking issues, and were able to get  feedback from golfers during and after the game.

Golf courses started pushing the use of Deemples more to their  customers/members since Deemples was always on, compared to the  phone lines only being available 12 hours of the day, when someone  was available to answer.  

There’s a last group of golfers that we are not able to satisfy at the  moment. These are golfers that are outside of the markets that  Deemples is available in. However, we get almost weekly emails and  app store reviews that constantly ask for Deemples to be available in  those markets, so that they too can find golfers for their golf games  easily.  

We constantly get requests from the large golfing markets, ie USA,  Canada, UK, Australia, and South Africa.

We are now at the most exciting part of the business, the monetisation  model, called Deemples Pay, an upfront payment feature.  

Golf courses have been used to using Deemples to host games, and  are able to chat into all other games happening at their golf course. So  we added on one more function that enabled them to accept payments  upfront from golfers via Deemples.  

Golf courses were getting booked out every weekend, but didn’t have  any means to collect payments from golfers until they showed up on the  game day and made payment over the counter just before the game. If  it rained out, or the golfer decides just now to show up, the golf courses  would have lost revenue and wouldn’t be able to replace it immediately,  since golfers knew not to show up without a booking over the  weekend. 

This posed a large cash flow threat to the golf course, and were happy  to utilise Deemples Pay that Deemples provided to them.

Golfers were already using Deemples to join games, and golf courses  were providing golfers with preferential rates for paying upfront, so  there was very low resistance from golfers to make payment to secure  their slots.

For every successful transaction that happened with Deemples Pay,  Deemples took a small percentage fee. 

Golf courses loved this upfront payment model because now: 

• 1.   They were able to secure revenue upfront. 
• 2.   No-shows and last minute cancellations have dramatically  reduced. 
• 3.   Better visibility into revenue forecasts and can plan marketing  campaigns accordingly. 
• 4.   Increased efficiencies during registration. Since payments were  already made, registrations took a fraction of the time, and  golfers were teeing off much quicker.  
• 5.   Low resistance from golfers since they were already used to the  Deemples app anyway.  

Golfers also loved it because:  

• 1.   They can secure slots without picking up the phone 
• 2.   Fast registration times at the golf course   
• 3.   They know that other players in the game will be showing up  too (more likely than not) since payments have already been  made.    

Within 9 months of launching Deemples Pay, we got 10 golf courses  signed up to accept payments upfront from golfers, processed over 5k  transactions, and have seen revenues grow by 50% MoM

There are 60 million golfers in the world, playing on 30,000 golf  courses. In Malaysia there are 300,000 golfers, playing on 150 golf  courses. 

On average, a golfer golfs once a month (some play once a week, and  some play once a year), and a conservative estimate of golf fees per  round is USD30. That’s USD1.8B worth of golf per month, or about  USD20B per year! If they play golf, they’re also purchasing other golf  related products and services ie apparel, accessories, equipment,  lessons, events, and media, which adds up to a USD70billion golf  industry.  

North America (mostly USA) makes up 50% of the world’s golf, and  Australia has the highest density of golfers to population in the world.  

Currently there are no similar platforms like Deemples (finding golfers)  that have gained meaningful traction

We divide the platforms into 3 different types for the entire golf booking  process:

Large and successful examples are: GolfNow, Teenet, Teeoff, Teetimes,  iSeekgolf, Golfscape, etc 

Booking platforms have worked in markets that have a higher middle  class segment ie USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This is  because: 

• 1. There’s a much higher density of golfers in these countries. 
• 2. Cost of labor is high, so golf courses have more automation, and  people are used to self-serve.

It doesn’t work as well in markets with a large disparity of income, ie  South and SouthEast Asia, South America, and Africa. Oppositely, this is  because:

• 1. Even though there’s a large number of golfers, the density of  golfers are still low in comparison to the population. 
• 2. The population is generally in the low income bracket, hence  there is sufficient manpower to manually serve golfers. 
• 3. The golfers are all in high income brackets and are used to  being served. 

Examples like GolfGreedy in SEA, GolfReserv and GoGolf in Malaysia,  GolfConnect24 in Vietnam, GreenGolf in Singapore, have all ceased as  there wasn’t a product-market fit. 

There are 3 existing players in Malaysia: QiSoft, Albatrozz, and IFCA.   Examples outside of Malaysia are EZLinks and FORE! Reservations in  the US, MiClub and MpowerMSL in Australia, BRS in the UK, etc. 

In each country there are usually 1-2 dominant players that have been in  the business for about 20 years. Therefore, technology used are usually  dated and pricing models didn’t incentivise the technology providers to  innovate

Tee sheet companies are usually B2B businesses where golf courses  buy these platforms to manage their inventory. The golf course  receptionist will manually block out slots as they’re booked by golfers  via telephone, email, or walk ins

doesn’t help with the tee time booking process, but helps with  collecting data and providing information that will aid and assist in your  golf game.  

You can submit data for every stroke, or your total score, and these  apps will usually give you an analysis over time on your performance,  your updated handicap, and where you can improve. 

At the same time, because of the GPS features built in, it’ll give you  distance readings to the pin from where you’re located for each hole.  Some of these apps are built into wearables as well.  

Noteable GPS/Scoring apps: Hole19 from Portugal, 18birdies from San  Francisco, Swing x Swing from Connecticut, GolfShot, The Grint, and  many more. 

There were a few in the world who have tried but failed. A few  examples are GolfMatch, Golf Partners, TeeUp, and FindYourRound the  24 USA, MyCircle Golf in the UK, GreenCircles and GolfPartnerConnect in  Australia, be4golf and 4ball4all in South Africa, and more.  

The 2-sided many-to-many consumer marketplace type business model  is the hardest to execute. All of the companies mentioned above had  the passion to solve the problem but didn’t necessarily have the  knowledge and skills to execute well. It’s a network effect model, which  means the initial kick start had to be solid for it to continue to snowball

We feel this part (finding golfers) of the booking process is the most  crucial. If golfers can’t find another golfer that’s available to golf, then  they can’t book, can’t play, and can’t consume anything else related to  golf. It’s also an angle we can enter the market with, since it’s solving a  current problem, then subsequently building additional features to  complete the entire booking process.  

Deemples has previously raised a total of MYR 1.1M in the last 3 years  from angel investors.  

This round we’re looking to raise a minimum of MYR650k and a  maximum of MYR1.7M at a MYR8.4M pre-money valuation.

In general, 70% will be allocated for new product development and  marketing, 20% for business development, and 10% for general  administration and other expenses. 

The product that we’re going to be focusing for this round is the new  tee sheet to help golf courses fully automate their booking process.  

Golf courses currently have Deemples that they use to host games and  let golfers join in easily. They also have Deemples Pay which allows  them to accept payments upfront from golfers to secure tee times and  solidify revenue for the golf course.

The last thing that’s missing to complete the entire booking process, is  to connect the golf course’s tee time inventory (tee sheet) with an  interface that golfers can interact with (ie golf course website,  Deemples, or any other platform), so that golfers can book and pay  without human intervention, based on current availability and prices.  

The objective is to help: 

• Golfers have 24/7 access to an amazing tee time booking  experience.
• Golf courses reduce manual processes, reduce human costs,  automate revenue, and increase yield, all happening whilst they  sleep.  

Very similar to buying a movie or airline ticket.  

To do this, a major technology overhaul has to be done with the  Deemples platform to make it more modular and scalable for future  geographical expansions. This process will take about 6 months  including internal QA and testing, before rolling out to the first golf  courses for beta testing. 

We’ll be providing this new tee sheet for free to golf courses, and  generate revenue only from a % of the sales that go through the  platform.

Average golf course generates about MYR500k in revenue per month.  For conservative calculations we’ll use a MYR250k revenue golf course,  and take a flat 10% on all sales, estimated Deemples revenue = MYR25k  per month per golf course.

Rough estimates and timelines: 

• GC = golf courses implemented for tee sheets
• GMV = gross merchandise value, based on historical growth of  50% MoM.  
• Gross margins based on 8% of GMV (estimated)
• Expenses = MYR60k per month (70% product dev/marketing,  30% others) 

GMV is growing with acquisition of more golf courses for payments.

Tee sheet will increase per golf course revenue by 20x, and solidify  inventory supply. 

If 50 golf courses (half of all golf courses in Malaysia) adopt the  Deemples tee sheet, the estimated revenue will be 50 golf courses x  MYR25k per month x 12 months = MYR15m per year. 

Deemples was never built just for Malaysia.  

The problem of finding available golfers is a global one. There are only  so few golfers in the world, golfers love to travel for golf, and golfers are  having less and less time available.  

It is our mission to make sure golfers can find others to golf anytime in  any country they want to.

The booking process in the end will be a seamless one:

• Get on the app 
• Host a game at the golf course and time you want to play
• Other golfers who can play join in 
• Pay for your own rounds to secure your slot 
• Make lifelong friends in the 4 hours of your game.  

The short term goal is to achieve profitability in Malaysia with existing  business models, then helping even more golf courses digitise their  business, which will in turn improve the organising and booking  experience for golfers. 

Malaysia only accounts for 0.5% of the world’s golf. If done right,  Deemples in Malaysia will contribute to a MYR 30M business.

Next markets would be larger, more mature golfing markets = AUNZ  and North America, which will make up 57% of the golfing population.  These markets, if Deemples serves them, could contribute another  potential MYR 3.5B of business.

The goal for golfers ultimately is so that setting up a golf game around  the world becomes seamless, the same way you set up your Tinder  dates, or your business meetings.  

The future of the Deemples product, is a platform for everything golf.  The playing of golf counts for about a USD20B industry, which includes  tee time bookings, and golf course revenues.  

The larger part is everything else that surrounds it, including equipment,  apparel, accessories, academies, media, events, and golf course  management, which sums up a USD70B industry.  

We’d be more focused on anything that can be done digitally: 

• 1.   Marketplace
• 2.   Content
• 3.   Advertising
• 4.   Academy 
• 5.   Golf course management software 

The next biggest thing that golfers do online, aside from finding golfers  to golf with, is finding golf stuff to buy or sell. 

Since Deemples by then would already have the largest online pool of  golfer audience by city, a ​marketplace ​ makes sense to add on to  convenience to golfers for letting go of their used items, which  someone else will find of value.  

This would be like a Mudah/Carousell/Craigslist, but just for golf items.  It’ll make searching to buy golf items the easiest, and sellers to directly  reach the widest pool of golfers in one place.  

Golf content is available everywhere these days. However, since we’d  already have a large audience pool, and golfers already trust the  Deemples brand for both finding golfers and trading equipment on the  30 marketplace, we’d be able to create valuable content that can reach  golfers efficiently.

Examples could be:  

• Golf news
• Golf equipment or golf course reviews 
• Education on golf rules, etiquette, skill improvement 

We could either have an in-house team to produce this content, or  partner with content producers to facilitate this.  

Finding golfers, tee time bookings, marketplace, and content would  have generated high amounts of traffic to Deemples platforms across  various markets. This will be the time where to monetise this traffic with  relevant advertising.  

Advertising could come in a few formats: 

• Pure branding campaigns 
• Activation campaigns that include golfing events, equipment  demos or trials, or even sign ups for various subscriptions.  

Whilst advertising can bring in good revenue and brand association, it  won’t be scalable if it includes offline activation campaigns. Therefore  when the time comes, we will outsource the activation advertising  business to an agency, so that internal human resources can be  minimized for a more efficient team. 

Only 1% of the world’s population golfs, that means 99% don’t. To get  these 99% into the game, they’d have to start somewhere. So  academies are imperative to the growth of the game.

Academies are also a non-scalable business, since the most effective  way is having 1-to-1 coaching. However, in recent years, there are  technologies being developed that allow digital coaching to happen for  students with coaches anywhere in the world. 

Digital coaching platforms could be an area Deemples invests in in the  future. 

We’re already building a portion of this with the tee sheet product.  However, golf courses require a full fledge software to manage the  entire golf resort including: 

• 1.   F&B sales and inventory
• 2.   Memberships
• 3.   Other sports bookings
• 4.   Financial reporting 

We could either: 

• Build the entire golf course management solution, or Partner with an existing solution, with the Deemples enhanced  tee-time booking solution integrated.  

Pricing models for this could either be: 

• SaaS monthly subscription model, or more preferably, 
• % of all sales transacted via the platform.  

  We like the latter since it aligns us with goals of the golf facilities, and  encourages us to continuously improve the product to encourage more  golfer participation in any part of the golf facility’s business. 

This will be cutting our vision short, but what we can see that’s possible:

Our vision is to grow the golf industry, removing barriers 1 by 1 that  threatens the growth of it. This is so that both existing and new golfers  have an improved experience of the game, and continue to play and  share the game throughout their lives.