🔊 Fitness Tech Company Reaches $1B Valuation

📰 TOP STORY
EGYM Raises $200M Series G At Billion-Dollar Valuation

• EGYM, a German fitness technology and corporate wellness company, recently raised $200M in a Series G funding round. The round was led by L Catterton and Meritech Capital. The company, which has raised over $600M, intends to use the funds for the continued expansion of its wellness network and the development of digital solutions, smart strength equipment, and tech-enabled products for data-driven and personalized training. EGYM, founded and led by CEO Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer, is a vertically integrated market business that partners with companies to improve employee health by providing access to fitness and health facilities. They equip those facilities with smart gym equipment and digital solutions to offer an AI-driven workout experience for people of all skill levels. The EGYM Wellpass corporate wellness network currently has 17,000 sports partners and 14,000 corporate customers with over three million eligible employees (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Global Sports Data Agency Raises From Two Prominent US Investors

• Two Cirlces Receives Investment From US Investors. Sports private equity firm Otro Capital and billionaire David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures have made a minority investment into global sports data marketing agency Two Circles. Two Circles works with leagues, teams, and brands to grow their fanbase, revenue, and engagement using extensive data insights. These two new investors form a newly established Two Circles North America Operating Board, chaired by Otro Partner and Co-Founder, Alec Scheiner who will also join the Global Two Circles Board of Directors (more here).

• Pistons Owner Tom Gores Buys Into Los Angeles Chargers. Gores has an agreement in place to purchase 27% of the franchise, which includes the 24% owned by Dea Spanos Berberian and 1% owned by the three other Spanos siblings, Dean, Michael, and Alexis Spanos Ruhl. The deal will need final approval from NFL owners and is expected to be on the agenda at the NFL league meetings in Atlanta next month. The siblings each agreed to sell 1% for estate planning purposes (more here).

• OxeFit Raises $17.5M. OxeFit, a Texas-based leader in AI-driven health and fitness experiences, raised $17.5M in funding, bringing the total amount raised to over $70M. New investors include Dave Asprey and Anne Mahlum who joined other notable investors such as soccer legend Harry Kane, pro golfer Dustin Johnson, and NFL quarterback Dak Prescott. The company intends to use the new funds to further deliver on its commitment to bring AI to its health and fitness experiences (more here).

• FluidLogic Raises $15M Series A. FluidLogic, a leader in high-performance hydration systems announced a Series A Extension financing round of $15M led by Solyco Capital, a private equity firm delivering capital solutions for late-stage startups and growth companies. FluidLogic develops cutting-edge in-vehicle hydration solutions that provide optimal hydration, ensuring users consistently perform at their peak (more here).

• The Curling Group Secures $5M Seed Funding. The Curling Group (“TCG”) announced that it has raised $5M in seed funding to take the sport of curling to new heights through strategic investments, innovation, and content production that will broaden the sport’s global reach. The round was led by Toronto-based venture capital firm Relay Ventures. The Curling Group, co-founded by sports, media, and entertainment industry veterans Nic Sulsky and Mike Cotton, announced its launch in April 2024 by acquiring the Grand Slam of Curling event series from Sportsnet (Rogers Communications Inc.) (more here).

• Exakt Health Raises €2M. German startup Exakt Health, which offers first-of-its-kind digital sports physiotherapy certified as a medical device, has closed a €2.2M in seed financing. The round was led by Barmenia Next Strategies. Major existing investors, Backbone Ventures and Auxxo also contributed to this round. The other investors include notable business angels such as Maximilian Tayenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of N26, and HR expert Cornelia Oelling, founder and HR consultant (more here).

• Golf GameBook Raises €2.5M. Golf GameBook, a leading Spanish-based golf app, has successfully closed a €2.5M funding round led by Spanish and Nordic investors including Álvaro Morata, furthering its position in the European market as the top golf app on the continent. The company has amassed a user base of more than 1.5 million individuals across 100 countries. It is actively pursuing global expansion to establish itself as an indispensable resource for golf enthusiasts and clubs (more here).

• Fastbreak.ai Acquires Tourney Pro. Fastbreak.ai, the leader in AI-driven sports scheduling technology announced its acquisition of Tourney Pro, a premier provider of tournament management solutions for youth sports. This acquisition pushes Fastbreak.ai’s expansion into the rapidly growing youth sports market. Ray Glassmann, President and Founder of Tourney Pro, is joining Fastbreak.ai's leadership team as General Manager of Youth Products (more here).

• Friedkin Group Acquires Everton FC From Blue Heaven Holding. The Friedkin Group has agreed on a deal to take over Everton owner Farhad Moshiri's 94.1% controlling stake. The Texas-based firm is a consortium of investments in automotive, entertainment, hospitality, and sports. It also owns Serie A club Roma. Moshiri, a former Arsenal shareholder, first bought a 49.9% stake in Everton in 2016. By January 2022, he had increased his stake to 94.1% with a £100M capital injection (more here).

• Miami Heat Making $50M Upgrades To Kaseya Center. Among the upgrades will be a completely new lighting and sound system, new retractable seating in the lower bowl, and new pathways connecting the home and visiting locker rooms to the court. The centerpiece of the new upgrades, both literally and figuratively, is the scoreboard display. It will feature four new video monitors, sized 19.5 feet high and 29.5 feet wide, which will surround a “dynamic 3D replica of the team’s iconic ball and flame logo.” Nicknamed “Fireball,” the new display will feature 2,525 square feet of LED screens, which will allow the team to show one large image or multiple images during games and other live events (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Robinhood Inks Third NBA Jersey Deal

• Robinhood Inks A Deal With Miami Heat. Financial services app Robinhood added the Miami Heat to an advertising push that already includes the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards. All three deals were facilitated by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports Group. Beginning with the 2024-25 NBA season, Robinhood's logo will appear on the Heat's jerseys. The Heat will feature the fintech giant’s branding on all jersey styles, including the Association, Icon, Statement, and City Edition uniforms (more here).

• Monumental Sports & Entertainment & KPMG Announce Strategic Partnership. Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) unveiled a new strategic partnership with KPMG, an audit, tax, and advisory firm, as the organization’s Official Consulting & Advisory Partner, an expanded role from the existing partnership between the two companies. Under the new relationship, KPMG will employ its organization’s capabilities to drive value from innovation and help MSE redefine the future of sports by designing a leading-edge fan experience, tech-enabled venue operations, and community revitalization (more here).

• Puma & Google Cloud Expand Partnership. PUMA and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership to enhance the digital shopping experience for PUMA consumers worldwide using generative AI. PUMA was the first in the industry to use AI imagery in its online shop at scale. Using Imagen 2 on Vertex AI, PUMA can now create dynamic and personalized product imagery to improve click-through rates and accelerate the time-to-market for PUMA's digital campaigns globally (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Uplift Labs Launches D2C App

• Uplift Labs Launches App For Everyday Gymgoers. Uplift Labs has built a reputation with movement analysis software widely used by college and professional sports teams. As of Tuesday, the company is now offering a new Uplift app designed for individual athletes. As of launch, the app allows users to track their jumping performance, something cofounder and CEO Sukemasa Kabayama says matters not just to basketball players and track and field stars but to anyone interested in tracking their overall athletic performance (more here).

• Big Blue Madness Will Take Place On ASB GlassFloor. Kentucky announced that Big Blue Madness will be the first college basketball event to be held on ASB GlassFloor, which is an LED video floor that allows for interactive elements. The ASB GlassFloor has previously been used during the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, the 2024 Basketball Champions League Final, and the 2023 FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup (more here).

• NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator Announces Startup Finalists. NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum announced the four prize-winning startups from “NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator,” which NBA Africa launched in April 2024 to support the continent’s technology ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs. The four winning companies – Festival Coins (Nigeria), Salubata (Nigeria), HustleSasa (Kenya), and UBR VR (Egypt) – will be awarded financial support and mentorship, including an opportunity to participate in workshops and development programs facilitated by NBA Africa (more here).

• Chiliz Group Launches Chiliz Sports. Chiliz Sports is an independent division that will focus on leveraging Chiliz's position as a pioneer in the SportFi ecosystem and its network in sports and tech to explore synergies and foster business opportunities for both industries (more here).

• How Sports Investing Is Changing, According To This CEO. Rockefeller Capital Management CEO Greg Fleming, citing the scales and prices of sports investments, said that the trend of sports funds and private equity investments will likely continue (more here).

• Julius Thomas: From NFL Player To Providing Athletes With Mental Health Support. Julius Thomas, former NFL Pro Bowl tight end, has transitioned from an elite athlete on the field to providing mental performance support to athletes and executives. His NFL career involved seven seasons and two Pro Bowls; however, his most recent achievement is his company, Optimal Performance. Through Optimal Performance, he works with high-performing organizations and teams to help them reach their peak potential personally and professionally (more here).

• USF Soccer Forward Jalen Anderson Learning How AI Can Work For Him. Perhaps someday, Jalen Anderson will be employed by one of the Big Four accounting firms or a banking behemoth. Either would be fine with him. While that may come to fruition, the 23-year-old master’s student and soccer player at the University of South Florida would ultimately like to do the hiring. Anderson has been listening and learning as he pursues a career offering a combination of finance and artificial intelligence (more here).

• The Best Investment Opportunity In The Coming Decade? Women’s Sports. The growth of women's sports is not just inevitable—it's imminent. The question is no longer if women's sports will become a major economic force, but when. And for astute investors, the time to act is now. The next decade will see women's sports evolve from an underappreciated niche to a mainstream powerhouse. Those who recognize this shift early and position themselves accordingly stand to benefit from what could be the most significant development in the sports industry since the advent of television broadcasting (more here).

• The Number Of Millionaire College Athletes Has Tripled. Here Are The Top 10 Earners This Year. More college athletes are making over $1M from NIL, and most of them play the same position. There are more millionaire college athletes than ever before. Last October, there were just 10 NCAA athletes who had NIL earnings of at least $1M, according to On3's NIL deal tracker. That number grew to 24 during last season's March Madness basketball tournament and now sits at 34 athletes (more here).

💬 INTERVIEWS
Meet The Founders & Innovators Building The Future Of Sports

• How MVP Interactive Is Creating State-Of-The-Art Fan Experiences For Sports Teams. Teams have to think bigger these days. The competition for fan attention is everywhere. This is why a majority of teams are investing in interactive and immersive in-stadium experiences. One of the companies paving the way for this is MVP Interactive, a creative technology company specializing in producing immersive experiences for the world's largest brands. They've been in business for over 10 years and so far they've worked with several clients including Boston Red Sox, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Clippers, NY Rangers, NFL, NBA, and MLB. In this interview with founder James Giglio, we discuss how he got the company off the ground, how MVP Interactive captures first-party data, and his thoughts on the future of fan engagement (more here).