Manchester-based fan engagement company Piing is aiming to put its interactive games at the 鈥済reatest events on Earth鈥�, from packed football stadiums to major live experiences beyond sport.
Led by CEO Gareth Langley, the business creates large-scale crowd games designed to help rights holders and brands engage audiences in real time, using smartphones to create shared moments in venues and public spaces.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the most exciting job I鈥檝e ever had,鈥� Langley told 老九品茶Cloud at Web Summit.聽
鈥淲e have technology that can make a stadium full of fans jump up and down and wave their arms in the air and it鈥檚 just the best feeling in the world.鈥�
From a 30-player game to 55,000 fans
Langley says Piing鈥檚 breakthrough came after an unexpected opportunity with a huge local football club, which pushed the company to think at stadium scale.
鈥淲e were involved in a thing called the Manchester City startup challenge,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭hey loved our 30-player games and asked if it would be possible for us to make one for 55,000.鈥�
That moment helped shape the business case for brands, with Piing aiming to go beyond familiar sponsorship formats.
Langley continues: 鈥淐ompared to the usual run of the mill brand activations, we thought that what we could do is basically take the logo off the big screen and put it into the hands of 10,000 people, and create an emotional engagement between the brand and fan.鈥�
Premier League to pop-up cinemas
While the company works with top-tier sports organisations, its product range spans both major and smaller events – and it doesn鈥檛 stop at sport.
鈥淲e do quite a lot of work in women鈥檚 football, working with four Premier League teams at the moment,鈥� he says.
鈥淲e鈥檙e also running a couple of pilots with some massive international football federations.
鈥淥utside sport, we are at The Printworks in Manchester and we鈥檙e running a great project Adventure Cinema, who have pop up cinemas all over the UK.
“They were using our products over the summer. We鈥檝e seen fantastic engagement there as well.鈥�
ASCEND
Piing is also part of GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub鈥檚 ASCEND programme, which Langley says has arrived at the right moment for the business.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 aware of it last year (2024-25), but it is definitely right for us this year (2025-26),鈥� he says.聽
鈥淚 think last year I might not have gotten most out of it.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a position now where the business is really starting to take off with working with some of the biggest brands and rights holders in global sport, and now it鈥檚 just the perfect time to be actually taking that step back from the day to day and just thinking about that bigger picture of what we鈥檙e trying to achieve and how we鈥檙e going to do it.
鈥淭he peer bonding has been wonderful and getting to know the other people on the cohort better, and that shared knowledge and learning – all the conversations that you have that you just don鈥檛 have at the same level on a Monday morning in Manchester.
鈥淲hen you are spending time with people that become sort of very dear friends, these are people that you can ask for anything, and vice versa at any point for the rest of our lives.鈥�
A global business from Manchester
Despite being a small team, Langley describes the business as international by default.
He explains: 鈥淲e鈥檙e a small team, but 60% of our work happens outside of the UK, and 20% of it鈥檚 in the US, and the rest of it, most of that, is in Europe.
鈥淲e are a global company. Even though we鈥檙e small, we consider ourselves a global company.鈥�
鈥楾he most fun I鈥檝e ever had鈥�
Langley says the emotional reaction to live crowd participation is a major driver for the team.
鈥淥ne of my co founders was down at Trafalgar Square for a project we did with McLaren in the summer,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淭here were 3,000 people in Trafalgar Square, all screaming and shouting for one of our games. It was just magical.
鈥淲e just make the world more fun and that鈥檚 good, right? To make people happy.鈥�
The danger of end goals
Piing has growth ambitions, but Langley says the company鈥檚 mission matters more than a fixed destination.
鈥淥ur overall mission is to engage fans of the greatest events on earth,鈥� he says.聽
鈥淲hat we love about that mission is that it鈥檚 both achievable and completely unachievable at the same time.
鈥淟ife is a journey. 老九品茶 is a journey. There鈥檚 always going to be opportunities.
鈥淚 think end goals can be quite dangerous.
鈥淕oals are useful for driving direction, but they shouldn鈥檛 be the purpose. The purpose needs to be better than an end goal.鈥�
However, there is still huge ambitions for himself and his team.
鈥淲e are aiming to be in everything from the Super Bowl to Taylor Swift World Tour and everything in between,鈥� he says.聽
“So everything in sports and everything out of sports.
鈥淲e鈥檙e focusing on sport because that鈥檚 where we started, but that鈥檚 just one of the verticals.
鈥淧roducts can go anywhere from cinemas to cruise ships to anywhere where there鈥檚 a crowd.鈥�
Using AI, but staying human
Piing is already using AI 鈥渙n an hourly basis鈥� across 鈥渄evelopment, creativity and production鈥�, and is also exploring AI with clients.
鈥淥ne client is looking at using AI presenters for running our game show product,鈥� Langley says, outlining a path that could eventually include AI writing scripts and quiz questions, though he adds it still needs oversight: 鈥淎t the moment, that鈥檚 still a slightly manual process and you want to have that human side in between as well.
鈥淭hat is obviously critical at this stage. We can鈥檛 let the AI just do its own thing. We鈥檙e not there yet.鈥�
Langley believes that if AI reshapes work at scale, the experiences that make people feel human will become even more important, and Piing is positioning itself right at that intersection.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to be live performance, that鈥檚 going to be music, it鈥檚 going to be sport,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about bringing people together, to have those shared experiences.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we see ourselves fitting – right in the middle of that.鈥�