Ronaldo buys Thing Pink and invests in apps

  • ECO News
  • 21 July 2017

Cristiano Ronaldo purchased a minority stake in the Portuguese agency Thing Pink, responsible for the technology in the CR7 museum. He will also launch a new digital project: 7egend.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the most recent investor in startups from the Portuguese ecosystem. ECO knows that the Portuguese international soccer player has just invested in the startup Thing Pink, which has offices both in Lisbon and Oporto. The company was in charge of installing all digital and technological aspects of the thew CR7 museum, inaugurated in Funchal, Madeira. The amount which he invested is still unknown.

Along with the best soccer player in the world, the company is preparing the launch of the project 7egend [read as Legend] — seven being Cristiano Ronaldo’s number –, whose slogan is “Digital Transformers”.

A source close to Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed to ECO the creation of 7egend, “a bet Cristiano Ronaldo is making in a sector increasingly more present in people’s everyday life; he chose partners who will assure the project’s great quality and creativity”. The CEO of 7egend is Luís Parafita, also Thing Pink’s CEO since 2007. The information is stated in the businessman’s LinkedIn profile.

The first clues about Cristiano Ronaldo’s newest adventure in tech businesses were disclosed by the player himself, in his official Facebook page, on July 7.

Partners with assurances

According to Thing Pink’s webside, the founding partner of 7egend, the company worked with “strategists, designers, engineers, producers, pirates and proud geeks”, who focus especially on users’ features. In addition to these types of technological solutions, the company develops Android apps for companies such as McDonald’s or Fnac.

This is not the first time Cristiano Ronaldo invests in a Portuguese startup. In December 2012, he announced via Twitter and Facebook that he had made an investment in the startup Mobitto, a company founded in 2011 by Diogo Teles and José Simões. In addition to the investment, the soccer player accepted being the brand’s ambassador. By then, Diogo Teles stated: “We thought of a few names and Cristiano Ronaldo’s came up naturally. After contacting him, we presented our project and our road map for the company”.

In addition to being the world’s highest-paid soccer player, Cristiano Ronaldo has investments and businesses in areas such as textile and footwear, and he also has partnerships with brands ranging from watch industries to the food and hotel businesses.