It was aboard a private plane with Dan Gilbert where WSC Sports Technologies executives got an opportunity to explain to the Cleveland Cavaliers owner how their company could maximize sports video content.
Gilbert wasn’t the only one who understood the potential of WSC Sports. On Thursday, the company announced the completion of a $12 million Series B round of financing with participation from Intel Capital, the Wilf family that owns the Minnesota Vikings, the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Gilbert.
“As a fan, this is a crazy life for us,” Aviv Arnon, Vice President of Business Development at WSC Sports, said of making presentations with CEO Daniel Shichman to Gilbert among others who would become investors. “We’re engineers, but we came into this as sports fans.”
WSC Sports developed a platform that creates personalized sports videos automatically, allowing owners of that content to better monetize it. Arnon said it was “kind of an easy sell” to Gilbert. Rock Ventures, a holding company for Gilbert’s portfolio of companies calls WSC Sports “essentially an internal YouTube for licensed content,” a nod to how easy it is to use.
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To add to the momentum, the Los Angeles Dodgers accelerator with R/GA chose WSC Sports as one of five sports tech companies in their latest cohort. Arnon said the selection for the program was yet another vote of confidence for the company.
WSC Sports gained validation when the NBA in December announced a multiyear partnership with the company to automatically generate customized video highlight creation and delivery in near real-time. NBA fans who regularly watch video highlight packages during and after games of specific teams, players and plays have experienced the capabilities of WSC Sports.
The NBA did the deal with WSC Sports after some initial skepticism that the company could actually create video clips automatically. Now, WSC Sports with the new funding is positioned to capture the market and apply its technology to different sports, according to Arnon.
Turner Sports, the Big East Conference and ELeague are current customers. Other major deals with unnamed broadcasting and sports organizations are in the works, according to the WSC Sports.
The company’s roots are in basketball as a scouting service when it launched in 2011 by four friends in Israel. These days, it has been a star player with the NBA’s digital media team that drew the attention of major supporters like Gilbert.
So when Shichman was asked in June if WSC Sports could generate a video of LeBron James arguing and crying about foul calls that went against the Cavaliers, the CEO smiled.
“We’re Cavs fans at the moment, and we’re super happy from the game yesterday,” Shichman said after the Cavaliers had just defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
As part of a demonstration at the Microsoft Global Startup Roadshow in San Francisco near where the Warriors play, Shichman proceeded to create a package of highlights involving James and Kyrie Irving.
In Warriors country, Shichman was quick-witted in explaining why he chose the players who would ultimately lead Gilbert’s Cavaliers to the NBA championship.
“I know who my team is right now,” he said.