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Startup Spotlight: This sensor-infused ball from Play Impossible encourages kids to be active

Playing with a ball can be a lot of fun when you throw sensors and computer chips into the mix. That’s the thought behind Play Impossible, a Seattle startup that sells a smart, connected inflatable ball which links to a smartphone app and lets people play different physical games. The company launched last year and raised $1 million from Two Sigma Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and WestRiver Group, the firm led by TopGolf Entertainment Group Co-Chairman Erik Anderson. Its first product is a small rubber ball that looks completely normal from the outside but has a bevy of electronics inside —… Read More

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How this reluctant Fitbit investor almost missed a $1.6 billion windfall

Tech investor Brad Feld remembers his first call with Fitbit CEO James Park. It was in 2010, during a major snowstorm at his home in the Colorado mountains, and he was too distracted by intermittent power outages to give serious attention to an investment pitch from a fitness tracking startup. “Pretty much my entire goal during that call was to get off the phone,” Feld recalls. “I wasn’t in any sort of headset or mindset about investing. I was interested in the idea of human-computer interaction, but I hadn’t really processed this notion of what a Fitbit was, or why I would want… Read More

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