Jeff Bezos is among the investors taking part in an $80 million funding round in Overtime, a sports media brand with plans to launch a new basketball league for elite high school players. The Amazon CEO’s investment company Bezos Expeditions took part alongside notable co-investors such as hip-hop star Drake, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, and a host of current and former NBA stars. Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Overtime calls itself “a publisher and an influencer” and has become a social media juggernaut in five years, with programming across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and more attracting 14 billion views a year. The… Read More
Boost Sport, a Seattle startup that helps basketball teams analyze their performance with video analysis technology, raised a $1.3 million seed round. Founded in 2016, the company uses machine learning and artificial intelligence that lets coaches and trainers pull data insights from video footage without having to purchase in-venue camera systems and wearable devices. Boost says its software can help spot trends and surface opportunities about strategy and personnel. TitletownTech, a partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, led the round. Other investors include Portfolia, Stadia Ventures, Barbara Clarke at the ImpactSeat, and Scott Cannon. Boost is led by… Read More
Vancouver, B.C.-based startup Form raised $8.5 million ($12 million CAD) for its augmented reality swimming goggles. Founded in 2016 by tech vet and former competitive swimmer Dan Eisenhardt, Form’s $199 goggles provide real-time visual feedback such as metrics on split times, distance, stroke rate, pace, and calories. The company launched in August and shipped more than 10,000 goggles in its first four months of operation. Large family offices in the UK and Denmark led the round, which included participation from Silicon Valley Bank. Eisenhardt previously sold sports-oriented AR startup Recon Instruments to Intel. The consumer AR market hasn’t taken off… Read More
Nike has more than 100 styles of men’s running shoes and more than a dozen ways to filter through them on its website. But nowhere in the shoe-buying experience will you be asked to consider one of the most basic running-related questions: How fast do you run? Vimazi is a Seattle-based startup that wants to put that fundamental metric — a runner’s pace — at the center of how it designs and markets running shoes. The startup is in the midst of a seed financing round that could reach $1 million, and the company said it could pursue a Series… Read More
Taunt, a Seattle-based startup that allows esports fans to interact and predict game outcomes, announced Thursday that it has closed a $3 million seed financing round, led by Foundry Group. Taunt is a spinout of the startup studio Pioneer Square Labs, whose new venture fund PSL Ventures joined in the investment along with Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital and CRCM Ventures, an esports industry investor. Foundry, which helped PSL get off the ground back in 2015, helped Taunt get started in September by leading a $1.7 million investment round. Taunt became the fifth startup to spin out of PSL, joining LumaTax, Jet Closing, AdLighting… Read More
