Peak startup – The future of pee-testing – Coca-Cola's big acquisition – Hyper-realistic avatars – Biotech beauty – Carbon-neutral milk – Youthful regenerative capacity – Pregnancy nutrition
Week 22
Skin In The Game is a weekly newsletter dedicated to sports investing. We highlight the startups and investors shaping the future of sports and its adjacent markets.
We also run a regulated startup investment club connecting investors with visionary sports, health, and entertainment startups – a platform for investors and founders to collaborate and co-invest.
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Confessions
Has anyone else noticed the world is becoming hyphenated?
This week’s newsletter is full of pesky little dashes (54 of them, to be precise). It’s proof that we are living in a long-tail environment where everybody is trying to carve out their own niche, invent a category to lead, capture a new market. Skin In The Game is no different – we’re not just interested in sports, but its siblings, health and entertainment. And then there’s the cousins and other, more distant relatives, a dizzyingly diverse range of sub-sectors that are increasingly wriggling into my world.
Thinking about the mathematics of differentiation, we are probably at peak startup. Now the major industry categories (sports, finance, healthcare, commerce etc) have been ticked off, and the hybrids are getting well and truly nailed (SportTech, FinTech, FemTech, Conversational Ecommerce, and other mouthfuls), we are being introduced to obscure linguistic constructions that seek to encapsulate the intersection of disparate industries. Believers point to elevated consumer expectations in an increasingly personalised world. Dissenters see a bunch of me-too founders solving trivial challenges for consumers with first-world problems.
Are we at peak startup? The fact that entrepreneurship itself has become an academic subject – an industry – says a lot. After close to a decade as an entrepreneur and advisor I have seen my fair share of impressive operators. I’ve also seen tonnes of pretenders. They pitch up, attracted to the flat-white-fuelled-foosball-infused lifestyle (see, yet more hypens!), before coming to the stark, dark realisation that entrepreneurs operate in a liminal space between heaven and hell – a place of great existential freedom and creativity where stress (ambient and otherwise) can destroy businesses, relationships, and individuals.
Founders need more than ideas, execution, and investment. They need stamina. But as an investor, determination in the face of adversity is hard to divine from a pitch deck.
I probably sound like a grumpy old man, when I am in fact a grumpy middle-aged man. But as an investor and syndicate lead I’m looking for exposure to companies that are doing significant, meaningful, BIG things. I am not interested in people pitching incremental gains to existing products and services. I’m interested in new stuff and the people who are crazy, irresponsible, and belligerent enough to get it out into the world.
Deal flow
🇮🇪 Irish sports tech firm Kitman Labs raises €45m in funding round – Irish sports tech company Kitman Labs has raised $52 million in a major new Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments. The financing takes total fundraising by the company to date to $82 million.
🧪 Biotech Beauty Firm Arcaea Launches with a $78 Million Series A – Arcaea was launched on the Ginkgo Bioworks platform with the mission to build a new foundation for the beauty industry through expressive biology. After a two-year incubation period within biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks it has now raised $78 million in Series A funding.
👟 Sneaker fit startup Neatsy.ai gets $1M seed after B2B pivot – Sneaker fit startup, Neatsy.ai, has snagged $1 million in seed funding. Investors in the round include Cabra VC, Flyer One VC and some unnamed business angels.
🧪 Tim Draper leads $6M Series A in pee-testing wellness tracker, Vivoo - Billionaire VC Tim Draper (via Draper Associates) has led a $6 million Series A in wellness tracking startup, Vivoo. Also participating in the funding round is ONCE Ventures, Revo Capital, 500 Startups (which backed its pre-seed), Global Ventures, and (the female-led consumer tech startup focused) Halogen Ventures.
⚽️ 49ers Increase Stake in Leeds United – The San Francisco 49ers ownership group increased its stake in Leeds United to 44%, marking its fourth investment in the football club.
🥼 London biotech Baseimmune closes £3.5M funding, eyes to develop future-proof universal vaccines – The investment round was led by Hoxton Ventures along with participation from early round lead investors Creator Fund, along with Cherry Ventures, Beast Ventures, Rockmount and Maki.vc.
🏌️♀️ Callaway continues investment in Entertainment Golf, this time in Five Iron – The upstart company that launched just four years ago in Manhattan has spread to seven cities and 10 locations around the world, and just this week secured a $30 million investment from golf-behemoth Callaway.
🏀 Kevin Durant spearheading $200m SPAC – NBA All-Star Kevin Durant has launched a new SPAC, which has filed for a $200 million IPO. The SPAC will focus on buying companies across the sports, health, ecommerce, cryptocurrency and food sectors.
👨⚕️ Hinge Health Valued at $6.2 Billion in Tiger, Coatue-Led Round – Hinge Health, a provider of digital physical therapy, has raised $400 million in a financing round that more than doubles its valuation from January, as more patients seek remote health care. The San Francisco-based company is valued at $6.2 billion with the new funding – up from $3 billion in January. Existing investors Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management led the round, the statement shows. New investors Alkeon Capital Management and Whale Rock Capital Management took a $200 million stake through a secondary investment that allowed some of the company’s early investors to get liquidity.
💰 Coke to Pay $5.6 Billion for Full Control of BodyArmor – Coca-Cola is buying full control of BodyArmor for $5.6 billion in a cash deal that values the sports-drink brand at about $8 billion, amping up a rivalry with Gatorade.
🐓 Daring Foods raises $65M and launches at Walmart – Plant-based chicken maker Daring Foods has raised $65 million in a Series C funding round led by Founders Fund and including previous investor D1 Capital Group as well as athletes and celebrities such as tennis Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, former NFL quarterback Cameron Newton and DJ and music producer Steve Aoki. Daring is also launching this month at 3,000 Walmart locations.
🤰 Pregnancy Nutrition Startup Needed Raises $5.8M To Launch New Products, Spur Clinical Research – Needed, a perinatal nutrition and education startup, has raised $5.8 million in Seed funding to expand its offerings to address stress, sleep and fertility issues. The round was led by Boston-based Seae Ventures, which focuses on health care startups, especially those founded by women and people of color, as well as Portola Valley, California-based Sekhmet Ventures, specializing in beauty and wellness investments. Southern California-based Crescent Ridge Partners and Salt Lake City-based Peterson Partners also jumped into the round.
📱 Truepill Raises $142 Million Series D to Continue Transforming Consumer Healthcare – Truepill, the digital health platform connecting telehealth, diagnostics, and pharmacy to power the future of consumer healthcare, closed a $142 million Series D funding round, with participation from existing investors Initialized Capital and TI Platform Management.
🖥 Daxko Receives Investment to Accelerate Innovation and Growth – Daxko, the health, fitness, and wellness industry's leading software and integrated payments provider, announced a recapitalization of the company by Genstar Capital and existing investor GI Partners. Daxko provides mission-critical membership management software and integrated payment solutions to member-based health and wellness organizations. The company serves large health clubs, boutique fitness studios, YMCAs, and JCCs with products to help its customers with daily operations and member management.
🇺🇸 Two of America's best-known billionaires are backing a Portland startup – Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mark Cuban Companies have invested a combined $4 million in the Portland startup Neutral Foods. Neutral sells milk that it says is carbon neutral, accomplished by investing in emissions reductions at dairies and buying offsets.
👩⚕️ BusinessBlueSemi secures $69 million capital commitment from GEM Global Yield – BlueSemi, a consumer healthtech firm, secured $69 million (Rs 510 crore) capital commitment from Luxembourg-based private alternative investment group GEM Global Yield (GEM) as the company seeks to go public.
🎮 Fitness Metaverse OliveX Raises $1.7M in Strategic Round – OliveX, a leader in gamified fitness metaverses and developer of viral fitness apps and technologies such as Zombies, Run!, KARA Smart Fitness, and 22 Pushups, has concluded a strategic round of funding.In this strategic sound, OliveX received commitments for a total of $1,700,000, including from its major shareholder, Animoca Brands, and major institutions in the industry, including GBV Capital, Double Peak Group, SkyVision Capital, Formless Capital, Darkpool Ventures Limited, The Spartan Group, Bonfire, Chingon Ventures, Eden Digital Holdings PTE LTD., MADworld Limited, One Football, Blocore, Blockhy.pe, PANONY, SMO Capital, as well as industry experts such as Sébastien Borget of The Sandbox, Gabby Dizon of Yield Guild Games, and Tony Guoga of Cypherpunk Holdings.
🧫 Quantbiome Announces Thryve Rebrand to Ombre, Raises $3 Million Seed Funding – Ombre has raised a $3 Million Seed Round funding from investors, including lead investor PivotNorth Capital, with participation from Trail Mix Ventures, Shanda Group, Unilever Ventures, Social Starts' fund Joyance Partners, and Unpopular Ventures. This Seed round brings the company's total funds raised to $9.5 Million.
👩⚖️ FemTec Health, a Health Sciences Company with a Mission to Transform Women's Healthcare – Investors, capital and shareholders include Longmont Capital, Ithaca LifeSciences, Unilever Ventures, Shiseido, e.Ventures, Viking Global, and Trinity Capital with more than $38M raised to date.
📹 Sony invests in Kiswe’s interactive video platform – Sony Innovation Fund is the latest investor in interactive video firm Kiswe, bringing the total amount raised by the New Jersey-based company up to $46 million.
🥽 THEMAGIC5 Founders Land Multi-MIllion Deal on ‘Shark Tank’ With Innovative Goggles Technology – THEMAGIC5 founders Rasmus Barfred and Bo Haaber made the most of their appearance on Shark Tank, entering the studio for the TV show with big dreams and leaving with a big deal. Barfred and Haaber, who lead the company along with former Danish professional swimmer Niklas Hedegaard, asked the Sharks for a $500,000 investment for 2.5 percent equity to open the segment, but after the duo explained that their robotics technology that creates custom-fitted swimming goggles could be applied to other types of sportswear, the Sharks were sold and began bidding on the investment opportunity.
🌱 Impossible Foods Eyes $7 Billion Valuation in Fundraising – Plant-based meat producer Impossible Foods, which competes with Beyond Meat, is in talks to raise about $500 million at a valuation of $7 billion.
🇺🇸 Jet Media Network Closes $2.5 Million Seed Round Let By Los Angeles Media Fund – Jet Media Network has closed a $2.5 million seed round of funding led by Los Angeles Media Fund. Other investors in the data-driven digital publishing company include 10X Capital, Gaingels, JetSynthesys, Spivy Private Capital and Equinox Systems.
👩🔬 Kuelbs Family Office Invests in Biotech Company Elevian, Supporting $40 Million Funding Round – Texas-based investor John A. Kuelbs underscored his commitment to transformative health initiatives with an investment in Elevian, an emerging biotech company developing medicines that restore youthful regenerative capacity, with the potential to treat and prevent multiple age-related diseases.
🔬 Mission BioCapital raises $275 Million Fund V – Mission BioCapital, a venture capital firm focused on making investments in early-stage life sciences companies that it uniquely supports as they grow, has raised $275 million for its next round of investments. Mission BioCapital V LP is more than double the size of the firm’s prior fund.
🤩 Colorcast Raises $1.5M; Features NFL Athletes and Celebrities – Colorcast has closed a pre-seed round of $1.5M from New York-based Tribeca Early Stage Partners, Los Angeles-based VoicePunch VC, Denver-based Hilltop Venture Partners, and San Francisco-based Connetic Ventures, among others. At the same time, Colorcast has announced that it is featuring high profile NFL athletes and celebrities on the platform including, Steelers' legends Ryan Shazier, Ike Taylor, James Washington, Rams' safety Taylor Rapp, Falcons' fullback Keith Smith, and Roc Nation Rapper, Vic Mensa.
⌗ Kitman Labs Raises $52 Million to Grow Athlete Analytics, Expects 9,000 Percent Data Increase – Kitman Labs, a sportstech company known for its athlete management system and performance analytics, has closed a $52 million investment round.
🦄 Hyperreal Secures $7M to Develop Hyper-realistic Avatars for the Metaverse – With participation from South Korean gaming giant Pearl Abyss, entertainment industry disruptor ZASH Global, Genius Sports Chairman David Levy, 32 Ventures CEO Robert Wolf, and Mayflower Entertainment founder Ryan Schinman, the funding round will allow the startup to expand its virtual production teams and technological platform. Kyle Kyungyub Kim, Head of Investment for Pearl Abyss, said about the round.
Some tweets
After bingeing on international rugby all weekend I should probably take a break from sports this week and do something improving, like reading one of the circa five books on venture investing I’ve recently acquired, or going to the gym. Problem is it’s England vs New Zealand in the T20 World Cup semis on Wednesday and my friend Roddy has invited me to the pub to watch it. So, instead of professional development stimulation and press-ups, it’s cricket and cask ale. I guess personal development will have to wait.
Cheers,
Ed
—
Edward Rhys
Founder / Skin In The Game
www.skininthegamegroup.com
🙏 A favour
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Skin In The Game is a startup investment club connecting investors with visionary sports startups. We provide a regulated platform for fans, athletes, entrepreneurs and brands to collaborate and co-invest. By investing in SportsTech we can unleash the full potential of sports, enriching the lives of people everywhere.
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