State of Play has announced a successful growth capital raise of $35m (£26.8m) which will support its aggressive development plan over the coming years.

The operator of Bounce ping pong venues, and modern bingo concept Hijingo, has secured the funding from existing and new investment partners, including US-based Bregal Partners, Acropolis Capital and Promethean Investments.

The capital will be used to find growth and enable the group to “harness structural tailwinds” in the experiential entertainment sector, and to fulfil the potential of its technology-enabled leisure concepts, it said.

It will also enable the acceleration of the roll-out of Flight Club in North America – which it currently operates under an exclusive licence from Red Engine.

The group said it had identified a large number of potential Flight Club locations in North America, with two more locations in Atlanta and Las Vegas expected to open by the end of this year, taking its Flight Club estate to six.

State of Play, which just announced a new flagship Bounce site at the Battersea Power Station development – its first new Bounce site in seven years – is also looking to open further Bounce and Hijingo venues, including Hijingo sites in the US.

The business added that it was in early stages of exploring operating partnerships for both concepts in Europe and APAC, territories where management believes there are significant opportunities.

Toby Harris, CEO of State of Play Hospitality, said: “I am delighted to announce the completion of our fundraise, which is a significant milestone for the business. State of Play is full of so much talent on both sides of the pond and this funding round is an endorsement of the quality of both our US and UK management teams. I’m excited to lead them on the next leg of our journey as we scale the business.

“Given the quality of our concepts and people, we have an incredible opportunity ahead to build a global entertainment platform of genuine scale.”

Speaking to MCA last month, Harris said the group was seeing a really strong level of bookings from both corporate and social groups following the end of Plan B restrictions.

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