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TOCA Football Inc. has raised $35 million in new funding.
The proceeds will be used to further expand TOCA’s Topgolf-inspired concept TOCA Social globally, as well as grow its soccer training technologies.
A large part of the funding is $20 million in debt financing from J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking.
“They have evaluated our business model and have supported our long-term vision and plan, and we’re excited to be partnering with such a prestigious institution,” Chief Executive Yoshi Maruyama told the Business Journal.
TOCA also announced that it has extended its partnership with Major League Soccer through 2036.
The two teamed up last year to bring TOCA Social to the U.S., with the first location opening later this year in Dallas.
TOCA has raised more than $200 million to date. It closed on a $100 million Series F round last year that helped accelerate the company’s expansion of TOCA Social.
TOCA, founded by former U.S. soccer pro Eddie Lewis, is the largest operator of indoor soccer centers in North America with 39 facilities. It aims to double its location count every year until it reaches 200 to 300 centers.
Lewis is on the Business Journal’s OC50 list of Rising Entrepreneurs (see this page).
Major Sporting Events Increase Interest in Soccer
TOCA is in the process of bringing TOCA Social to the U.S. The Dallas location is expected to open later this year—well ahead of when the city hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“We haven’t announced an official open date just yet, but our planning is going extremely well,” Maruyama said.
The 27,000-square-foot venue will be located at the Grandscape shopping and dining center in The Colony, which Maruyama previously described as an “incredible magnet” for entertainment.
TOCA’s domestic expansion coincides with huge sporting events coming to North America, including the World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Soccer’s inclusivity of men and women, coupled with these events, “will only be a huge tailwind to continue with the massive and popularity of the sport,” according to Maruyama.
TOCA said it’s eyeing other “major cities” where the World Cup will be hosted for additional TOCA Social locations.
While no final decisions have been made, Maruyama said they’re interested in eventually bringing the concept to Orange County.
“The county in which we were founded and have had great support is an extremely vibrant community, not just from a business perspective, but also for soccer,” he said.
On May 8, TOCA’s Liyuan Woo was honored with a Business Journal CFO of the Year award in the private company category. She told the Business Journal earlier this month that TOCA is also exploring growth through licensing TOCA Soccer’s technology to indoor centers in the U.S. She also sees potential licensing opportunities at stadiums, music festivals or on cruise ships for TOCA Social.
Company’s “Bread and Butter”
While training remains the company’s “bread and butter,” TOCA Social has been a way for the company to make soccer more accessible to players of all ages and skill levels.
Described by TOCA as the world’s first interactive soccer and dining experience, TOCA Social gamifies soccer for fans of the sport with different shooting simulations in private player boxes.
Each venue features a restaurant, bar, photo booths and other arcade games.
TOCA opened its first TOCA Social in London in 2021, attracting over 300,000 visitors in its first year of operation, followed by a second in Birmingham in 2024.
Due to this success, TOCA is opening a second venue in London that’s set to open July 1.
It’s the first of two planned venues as part of a partnership between TOCA and French real estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to expand TOCA Social in Europe.
The second will open in Paris this year. Additional locations will be announced in the future, the company said.
Outside of Europe and the U.S., TOCA has a franchise deal with Ventura Entertainment.
Ventura, amusement park operator and exclusive franchisor for Topgolf, has committed to opening a minimum of 20 TOCA Social venues in Mexico over the next eight years for a total investment of more than $100 million.
Of the 20 TOCA Socials, Ventura aims to open seven before the World Cup takes place, which will be jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Investing in New Technologies
The other part of the funding will go toward investing in new technologies.
Last month, the company launched the MyTOCA app.
The player portal allows users to create a personal player card, track their training progress and compete against other players via live leaderboards.
TOCA rolled out the app alongside news of its second annual TOCA Skills Showcase.
The company partnered with MLS to send four winners of the contest to MLS All-Star Week in Austin, Texas in July.
TOCA is planning future products alongside its technology partner World Wide Technology (WWT), a software company based in St. Louis.
Jim Kavanaugh, founder and CEO of WWT, was a new investor in TOCA’s $100 million Series F round last October. WWT, founded in 1990, has a local office in Costa Mesa.
“Innovation is a constant,” Maruyama said. “We will continue to invest in new technologies and innovation going forward, and we’re delighted to be working with Worldwide Technology.”
MLS Partnership
MLS has been engaged in both the design and marketing process of TOCA Social Dallas, according to Maruyama.
“The increase in fandom coupled with the increase in new clubs is has provided us with a huge opportunity to lean into our partnership,” Maruyama said. “The amount of engagement that they’ve had as we plan our opening of TOCA Social in Dallas is just a clear proof point.”
MLS first became a shareholder in TOCA in 2022 when the two companies announced a 10-year agreement, establishing TOCA as an official training and facility partner of MLS.
Since then, MLS programming and branding has been integrated throughout TOCA’s training centers in the U.S.
“During the most exciting period in North American soccer history, MLS is proud to announce the extension of our partnership with TOCA,” Chris Schlosser, MLS senior vice president of emerging ventures, said in a statement.
While Maruyama declined to disclose exact revenue figures, he said that TOCA has had “double-digit growth” for the last six years he’s been CEO.
When asked if TOCA would ever go public, Maruyama said it’s been TOCA’s “vision to be an independent, publicly traded company.”
Key goals for the company this year is to open its Dallas location and perfect its training technologies, Maruyama said.
“We think that there’s huge runway for the next decade for us to continue this explosive growth that we’ve achieved and we’re very excited about the future ahead,” he said.