Ukrainians created the padel platform PADO, which in 5 months grew to 8,000+ players and 100+ tournaments per week

How the idea came about

PADO was founded by Andriy Palunosik and Max Samko as a portfolio project of venture builder HUBB Tech, which also develops ITDev, CrazyApps, and other digital businesses in IT, iGaming, mobile apps, and subscription products.

Founder and CEO Max Samko started playing padel about three years ago and quickly became fascinated with tournaments, but he was annoyed by the existing booking apps — Paddle ID and Rocket ID: according to him, they «haven’t changed at all in a year of playing.» The idea for his own product came right on the court — that’s where Samko met Andriy Palunosik, the future tech founder of PADO.

The team quickly realized that one application for players was not enough — they decided to create a full-fledged ecosystem for clubs, communities and players at once. The first version for players and tournaments was released into beta testing on March 1, 2026 with the Podolbanda community in Warsaw. The first month was difficult due to bugs and incorrect tournament logic, but within a month the team received a stable version — and growth went organically, without any advertising.

What the application can do

PADO is built as a platform from two sides of the same market: players book and play, clubs manage and earn. The application is available on iOS and Android in three languages ​​- English, Ukrainian and Polish.

• Court booking — choose a date, court type (indoor/outdoor) and game duration, a grid of free slots in nearby clubs, a map, filters and the «Fast booking» badge for instant confirmation without waiting.
• Directory of coaches — filters by city, language of instruction and player level, profiles with rating and number of reviews.
• Tournaments — more than 8 formats (Americano, Mexicano, Mix and others), tournament statuses, payment tab, prizes for winners and a button for publishing results.
• Personal rating — personal ELO rating, place in the world and country standings, statistics of personal meetings with opponents, and ELO dynamics for the entire game time.
• Communities — about 80 active padel groups, the largest is the Warsaw «PADEL BANDA» (almost 1,500 members), among Ukrainian ones the leader is «Kyiv Padel Club» (about 950 members).
• CRM for clubs — launched on May 15, 2026, a free system for managing reservations, training, coaches, players and analytics, with mobile applications and a desktop version. A separate module, Padel Coach, is created specifically for coaches — managing schedules, paid and unpaid training sessions.

What does PADO earn from?

The CRM system itself is free for the club — the company earns not from subscriptions, but from a transaction fee of 2–3% from each booking and each tournament registration through the platform.

The club independently chooses who covers this commission: either it is added to the client’s check (for example, a reservation for 1,000 UAH costs the client 1,020 UAH, of which 1,000 UAH goes to the club and 20 UAH to PADO), or the club takes on the commission (from the same 1,000 UAH, the club gets 980 UAH). The company attracted $1 million in private investment to launch the project.

International expansion

PADO already operates in 7 European countries — Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Spain, covering over 40 cities. The company has also gone beyond purely product activity: it has become a partner of the Mistrzostwa Polski PZPadla 2026 padel tournament in Poland. According to Palunosik, PADO is open to other similar partnerships.

A Ukrainian woman has developed an app for padel players that is gaining popularity among IT professionals and business people. The app allows you to find partners to play with

On the topic

A Ukrainian woman has developed an app for padel players that is gaining popularity among IT professionals and business people. The app allows you to find partners to play with

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Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram