The Seahawks aren’t playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but there’s another Seattle-area team doing its own type of winning this weekend in Atlanta. Seattle-based company Solius won a $20,000 second place prize on Saturday at the NFL’s 1st and Future startup competition designed to promote innovation in player health, safety, and performance. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Rick Hennessey, Solius has developed light therapy that can stimulate the production of critical hormones and peptides. Last year it started rolling out light therapy kiosks in Vancouver, B.C., that help users increase vitamin D levels. An estimated 1… Read More
Two Microsoft veterans are building apps to help people put down their mobile devices and engage with others in the real world through sports. Seattle-based Mavengo, which launched in 2016, helps sports enthusiasts find and communicate with other players and set up games and matches. The software uses artificial intelligence to manage the monotonous task of organizing and scheduling games and re-matching the winners and losers. Co-founder and CEO Imran Aziz calls it a “personal assistant for sports.” The startup last year raised $400,000 and has been testing an initial version of its app for squash players at three Seattle-area… Read More
One year after attempting to take on social media giants with its own content platform focused on celebrities, TraceMe is pivoting. The Seattle-based company, co-founded by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, laid off staff last month and closed its Los Angeles office, CEO Jason LeeKeenan confirmed in an interview with GeekWire this week. The startup is shifting its business from a celebrity content app to a sports prediction game called Tally that offers real cash prize payouts. The app was released for iOS on Friday. The company laid off content-related and celebrity relations staff who were mostly working out of Los… Read More
Thanks to ReachNow, this show was shot on location at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. Today’s featured stories Future of sports viewing? Steve Ballmer and L.A. Clippers debut new augmented reality NBA experience After struggling with their own drug addictions, these founders just raised $6M for a recovery app eBay sues Amazon, alleging tech giant illegally poached sellers from its platform Subscribe to GeekWire on YouTube. [Editor’s Note: TLDR is GeekWire’s tech news rundown show, hosted by Starla Sampaco. Watch today’s update above, subscribe to GeekWire on YouTube, and check back weekday afternoons for more.]
Player Tokens Inc. is betting that digital assets and blockchain technology will reshape the way sports fans buy and sell rare collectibles. The Seattle startup came out of stealth mode in August, revealing its “crypto-collectible service” that puts a new spin on the traditional baseball card and owning collectibles. The company, backed by Madrona Venture Group, last month signed a deal with the Major League Baseball Players Association to sell digital “tokens” featuring real MLB players. Packs of tokens, priced from $5.99 to $8.49, can be purchased with a credit card. Player Tokens said its product is the first crypto-collectible… Read More
