Darts has become increasingly popular in recent years. The event halls are full, viewing figures are rising and darts is also becoming increasingly well-known in the media. For years, darts was a fringe sport in the shadow of major events such as soccer, handball and basketball. However, this has slowly but steadily changed in recent years: Millions of people now play the sport and TV broadcasts are recording solid viewing figures.

Darts has become a trend sport and there are several reasons for this. One of the most important is that darts is probably more of a popular sport and can be practiced by anyone. Nevertheless, there are still few products for classic steel darts that offer players support in the form of an automatic evaluation tool. There is no analysis tool to identify potential for improvement in everyday training and derive training opportunities. Scoring is a challenge, especially for beginners, so many beginners switch from classic steel darts to electronic soft darts and electronic scorekeepers with manual input are used for steel darts in children’s and youth sports. These problems have motivated the start-up WeDart to develop a needs-based system for the market.

The idea

The WeDart system enables automatic scoring, online play, detailed game statistics and personalized training sequences in steel darts. The developed product consists of a camera-supported device on the dartboard and an app that connects to the WeDart online platform. The system is aimed at beginners for whom manual scoring is a burden, but above all at ambitious players who are looking for a way to improve their skills.

Alisa Möhrke is responsible for management and marketing at WeDart: “People have been researching our purpose in steel darts since the 1960s and no one has yet found a satisfactory solution. In the meantime, there are some that offer automatic counting – as there is in soft darts – but only we have managed to develop a product for this at a good price and with the desired user-friendliness. And some additional functions on top of that. We offer simple, cost-effective hardware paired with complex, powerful software. We give players the opportunity to improve their game in a targeted manner. From the very first throw. This allows the user to concentrate fully on the game and the throwing technique. What’s more, we have the most detailed data collection currently available on the market. In other words, you know exactly where the mistakes are in the game and where you can improve,” says Alisa, impressed with her product. You can also play together without being in the same room: The integrated online platform will support an active community with numerous possibilities. In the long term, the system will make it possible to arrange live training sessions, play against virtual opponents in the form of an AI and evaluate and broadcast professional matches in the app, for example.

The competition

“We have only one competitor in our field so far, Scolia, who has similar basic functions to WeDart, but a different product concept, especially with regard to the camera arrangement, which brings them other advantages and disadvantages. For example, their cameras often move out of place. The recognition is quite reliable as long as the cameras do not move, but their product is much more expensive: the target group here is more professionals, less hobby players and clubs. And: with the competitor, you always have to have a cable connection to the internet – with us, that’s not necessary,” Lennart Zorn compares the competition. The mechatronics engineer first had the idea of automatic scorekeeping a few years ago.

The origin of the foundation

Lennart Zorn and Florian Bautsch are long-time friends with a keen interest in darts. “We always thought steel darts was cooler. We then started thinking together about how we could automate it. In the end, Lennart had the brilliant idea,” says Florian, who trained as a medical technician. That was in 2016, and for years they pursued the idea as a hobby and worked on it. Alisa Möhrke joined them: she lived in the same student hall of residence as Lennart, was on the same bar team and shared their enthusiasm for the sport. Alisa wrote her Bachelor’s thesis on how start-ups develop routines before they are founded. At first, she was reluctant to take on the management and marketing of the start-up out of loyalty to her employer and supported the team on a part-time basis. In the end, however, she decided to do so and considers this decision to be absolutely right.

The start-up support

In order to be optimally prepared for the foundation, the trio turned to the “StartupService” of the HAW Hamburg, respectively “beyourpilot” (editor’s note: “beyourpilot” has been called “Startup Port“since July 2023 ). They were first advised by start-up consultant Angela Borchert, and now by start-up consultant Lars Kalusky. He also supported the start-up in its successful application for EXIST: WeDart received the start-up grant from June 2021 to May 2022 and it made a large part of the development possible. In the meantime, the team has also secured InnoFounder funding from IFB Hamburg. “We want to hire our first working student in September 2022. Then mainly developers and marketing support, so that we can grow to around nine to ten employees in the next two years,” says Lennart ambitiously. “Completing the team was a challenge: we didn’t have a business side for a long time – until Alisa agreed to take over the management. If I had the chance again, I would have contacted the start-up service, or beyourpilot, directly to avoid wasting so much time,” the founder continues.

Product development and the sales market

To ensure that the product does not miss out on the market, the three regularly attend darts tournaments to present their idea and get to know the community. The startup conducted exploratory surveys in Germany and the UK, which revealed that the clear majority of dart players are willing to purchase the developed system. Assuming a total number of 1,000,000 privately used dartboards in the countries mentioned, WeDart estimates that sales of 150,000 units are realistic, 8,000 of which will be sold in the first twelve months. In order to achieve these sales, the start-up has been in talks with BULL’S, an international brand of Embassy Sporthandel GmbH Germany, for one and a half years. The company has a very extensive range for soft darts and steel darts and sponsors the BULL’S German Open as well as many international and national darts athletes. “They are interested, gave us a lot of feedback and wrote us a letter of intent for our EXIST application,” Florian reports on the cooperation with the European market leader in darts wholesale. They are also in talks with the German wholesaler WinSport. They are also supported by the Hamburg State Darts Association: “Networking is very important in darts, because the industry is more or less like a village – people know each other. We are happy that we have convinced so many people of our product,” reports Alisa.

The WeDart system is to be sold internationally in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands indirectly via specialist wholesalers and retailers as well as online via direct sales. In addition to the revenue generated by the WeDart app in the freemium model, revenue will also be generated by connecting dart apps, league systems and other third-party providers to the device’s API for a fee.

The future outlook, lessons learned and concluding advice.

“Our goal is to develop the coolest darts community ever. Our extensions have enormous potential here. The bottom line is that we are digitising the dartboard input medium. And you can also play more than just darts on it. We see ourselves in every hobby darts room, at darts tournaments as a counting device and in bars for entertainment,” Florian explains with conviction.

There is still a long way to go, but the trio are confident that they will be able to realize their dream. A start-up like this is always characterized by doubts and people often question their own actions, which can hinder development. Alisa advises those interested in setting up a business: “Just get started and seek advice. Start-up support units such as GründungsService and beyourpilot will support you free of charge. The start-up community is super friendly and helpful. Just approach people in general and ask – it doesn’t hurt.” Lennart says: “Take one step at a time. Have courage: Failure is not as problematic as you think and you learn a lot from it. My parents would also have preferred me to have a permanent job – but I really wanted to try.” “As a civil servant, my mother also threw up her hands at first, even though I can always count on the support of my family,” adds Alisa with a laugh: “It just feels right.” “I can only confirm that,” concludes Lennart.

https://www.wedart.io/