🔊 Cosm Reaches $1B Valuation 🚀

📰 TOP STORY
Cosm Raises $250M To Reach Billion-Dollar Valuation

• Cosm Raises $250M Round. Cosm, a leading immersive technology, media, and entertainment company recently announced a successful raise of over $250M in funding to drive the long-term growth of its "Shared Reality" venues and its technology and media business units. The company’s latest round of funding includes existing investors Steve Winn and Mirasol Capital. It welcomes new investors Avenue Sports Fund led by Marc Lasry, Dan Gilbert's ROCK, Baillie Gifford, and David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures. This raise puts the company at a valuation of over $1B. The Los Angeles-based company venues offer live sports, concerts, and other content through a massive wall-to-wall curved LED display that wraps around the guests. Some of their official partnerships include the NBA, ESPN, UFC, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, Cirque du Soleil, and several other artists, studios, and creators (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Michele Kang $50M Women’s Sports Investment Fund

• Michele Kang Launches Kynisca Innovation Hub With $50M Investment. Michele Kang, the owner of the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses has launched Kynisca Sports International, the first multi-team global organization dedicated to women’s soccer. Kynisca will provide female athletes ‘with the infrastructure and means necessary’ for success. Kynisca plans to unite elite clubs and invest in other structures operating in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe to drive innovation in women’s sports (more here).

• Kylian Mbappe Will Become Majority Owner Of Ligue 2 SM Caen. France forward Kylian Mbappe is reportedly set to become the new majority owner of French Ligue 2 SM Caen as part of a £17M takeover. The 25-year-old, who signed for Real Madrid earlier this summer after a long-running transfer saga and was unveiled in front of around 80,000 fans, will become one of Europe's youngest football club owners. He has supposedly invested around €15M (£12.6M) of his own money via the Coalition Capital investment fund (more here).

• Game Theory Raises Funding From Prominent Sports Personalities. Bengaluru-based company Game Theory has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from various athletes including Padma Bhushan awardee and former India No. 1 badminton player Pullela Gopichand, former world squash No. 10 Saurav Ghosal, Khel Ratna Awardee, and current India No. 1 table tennis player Sharath Kamal (more here).

• KheloMore Raises $2M In Pre-Series A. Indian sports booking app KheloMore has successfully raised $2M in a Pre-Series A funding round. The investment was led by Clear Bridge Ventures LLP’s partner Rajdip Gupta and Ashwin Damera, the founder of the ed-tech unicorn Eruditus. KheloMore was founded in 2016 by former Indian cricketers Jatin Paranjape and Ujwal Deole. It aims to make sports more accessible to Indians through its online booking platform (more here).

• Batbox Raises $7.3M In Series A. Batbox, a social and tech-infused baseball “eatertainment” concept that combines hospitality, sports, and an immersive baseball experience, recently raised $7.3M. Backers included Emerging Fund and MG Partners. The company intends to use the capital to drive its growth strategy, with plans to establish over 25 locations in the US by 2030 including cities like Dallas, Houston, Boston, and other major league baseball markets (more here).

• Shot Scope Raises $8.5M in Series B. Shot Scope, the industry leader in advanced GPS, rangefinder, and shot tracking technology, has secured $8.5M in Series B funding. The round was led by Guinness Ventures, which invested $4M. The company has raised the capital to continue its rapid global expansion and strong investment into product development, specialist resources, and brand marketing – as it continues to provide subscription-free, game-enhancing technology to golfers (more here).

• DuelNow Raises $11M Coming Out Of Stealth. DuelNow, a decentralized sports betting market, closed an $11M funding round led by GEM Digital Limited. Investors such as Charlie Lee, Billy Markus, Richard Ma, Marc van der Chijs, HardBank, Jonathan Lee, Joseph Cheong, Ethan Yau, and Dean Thomas also participated. DuelNow touts itself as a decentralized peer-to-peer betting platform designed to achieve lower fees and higher payouts by taking the house out of the equation (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Richard Sherman Backed Company Partners With Mogul Club

• The Players Company Partners With Real Estate Platform Mogul Club. The Players Company recently announced a partnership with Mogul Club, a real estate investment firm founded two years ago by Alex Blackwood and Joey Gumataotao, who worked together in Goldman Sachs’s real estate private equity group (more here).

• The NFL & Sony Announce Tech Partnership. Through this partnership, Sony and the NFL will be working with coaches, players, teams, and leadership across the organization to transform the future of football. This includes an expansion of Sony's sports technology through Hawk-Eye Innovations to support officiating and the development of on-field and sideline technologies, including a new coach's sideline headset that will debut in the 2025 season (more here).

• WBSC & Sportradar’s Synergy Sports Announce Partnership Extension. The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and Sportradar’s Synergy Sports have extended their official partnership for the next five years until the end of 2028. The partnership will provide coaching and scouting services through industry-leading technology and camera systems at select venues for assigned WBSC events, enriching the WBSC’s on- and off-field product (more here).

• Intersport & O Street Consulting Together Launch Intersport Fútbol Company. Chicago-based agency Intersport has launched a football-focused sponsorship consulting practice through its acquisition and partnership with O Street Consulting (more here).

• Golf Digest & Sports Startup Mustard Team On AI App. Golf Digest has partnered with Mustard to deliver the first AI-powered mobile app, Mustard Golf, that empowers golfers of all abilities to understand their swing and improve their game under the direction of the world’s greatest coaches (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Indiana Pacers Win Changemaker Of The Year

• Indiana Pacers Win 2024 NBA Changemaker Of The Year Award. Last Friday, the NBA announced that the Indiana Pacers earned the 2024 NBA Changemaker of the Year Award for their partnership with sports tech startup Spokenote. The partnership, announced in January, made the Pacers the first major professional sports franchise in the United States to debut a QR-code-like patch on their jerseys (more here).

• 13 Sports Startups Poised To Shake Up The Industry. Business Insider asked top sports VCs and investors to pick the most promising early-stage companies. They highlighted upstarts tapping into the growth of running clubs, women's sports, soccer, and more (more here).

• Manchester United Launches Digital Collectibles. Premier League giants Manchester United have launched an official NFT-based fantasy soccer game called ‘Fantasy United’ powered by the Tezos blockchain. The Club claims the game is the first to be launched by a Premier League team. Fantasy United allows players to collect and trade ‘Player Trading Cards’ that score points based on real-life performances (more here).

• Australia’s Sports Technology Sector Is Now Worth $4.69B. On a global level, the sports tech sector has seen rapid growth with the integration of digital technologies. These advancements have moved beyond elite sports, enhancing operational efficiencies and driving commercial outcomes for teams, leagues, and federations. Consumer adoption of smartwatches, connected fitness systems, and training apps has also surged, contributing to a 177% increase in new sports tech companies from 2012 to 2024 (more here).

• Megha Gambhir: Breaking Barriers In Sports Technology. Megha Gambhir, founder, and CEO of Stupa Sports Analytics, leverages AI to revolutionize racket sports performance and management (more here).

• How Modern Technology Is Shaping The Future Of Sports Training. Modern technology is reshaping sports training with tools like wearable devices, AI coaches, and virtual reality, optimizing performance and strategy. These innovations pave the way for more precise, personalized training methods, enhancing athlete performance and safety (more here).

• DraftKings Kills Fantasy Sports NFT Business Amid Class Action Lawsuit. The fantasy sports giant DraftKings informed users Tuesday that its Polygon-powered NFT experience Reignmakers has met an unceremonious end, effective immediately (more here).

• Unleashing The Power Of AI To Create A New Era In Soccer Excellence. In the world of soccer (football for most of the world), where every pass, every move, and every goal counts, this sport is experiencing a revolutionary transformation. The catalyst? Artificial intelligence. From the MLS to the prestigious European Premier Leagues, AI is reshaping the beautiful game in ways once only imagined (more here).