Learning in public – "Discord for sports betting" – Connected vertical climbing – Intrinsic in-game advertising – Video avatars of real people – Faith apps – Precision fermentation
Week 27
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.
Get in touch if you want to find out more.
Confessions
Tom Holland (otherwise known as Spider-Man) is quitting acting. At least, he’s thinking about it. I’m fascinated by career changes – how people re-position themselves in the world. This is really a corollary of something more basic and interesting; identity. It’s about how we see ourselves and by extension, how others see us. The order in which we approach this is important, as nothing good can come from living a life prescribed by other people.
Those of you who know me – either personally or through this newsletter – are aware that I’m in the process of repositioning myself from startup consultant to startup investor. This has been a challenging but ultimately rewarding process that has pushed me massively out of my comfort zone (we are now officially living apart). I started my career in finance, transitioned to consulting for tech startups, then nearly a decade later came full circle back to the investment world.
It’s not a wholesale reinvention, but it is a big shift in the way I think, work and live, one that has necessitated major lifestyle changes, financial sacrifices, and support from my friends and family. What has made it easier is sharing the journey with others, opening the process up to scrutiny and learning in public.
Learning in public is powerful. It incentivises action and progress. And it builds trust. This newsletter and its confessional nature have been a vehicle for that. Sometimes I have to forcibly restrain my inner critic and push through the embarrassment to share what I’m doing, ask for help, and offer my half-baked views on things I’m still learning about. But every newsletter I send is building my confidence.
I recently featured a health-tech company called Levels in the newsletter. My friend (and Skin In The Game apostle) Ben Mercer followed up by sharing an excellent deep dive from Mario Gabriele at The Generalist that describes the company’s “unusual” approach to doing business:
“There is not a company on earth that runs quite like Levels. That may sound hyperbolic, but after two months of following the team's operations, talking with angel and institutional investors, and digging through every crevice and corner of their internal documentation, it is the only conclusion I can come to.”
In seeking to revolutionise metabolic health, Levels is doing a lot of things differently, but the thing that stands out for me is “Radical Transparency”. Everything they do is documented and shared. This makes so much sense, and by extension it leads me to question the opposite approach of hoarding ideas, information, and output.
I’m always a bit perplexed by founders who tell me they are in “Stealth Mode”. When you’re starting a business, your aim should be to reach people, make them aware you exist, and demonstrate to them how you can solve their problems. How can you do that if you’re worried about another founder nicking your idea?
For me Stealth Mode reflects a deep (and often unrecognised) anxiety about execution – a fear that someone will “do” the idea better. But the very best startups, the ones that redefine and even reinvent categories – can withstand a surprising amount of plagiarism. Entrepreneurs with truly great ideas have more time than they think.
Radical Transparency is a vehicle for accelerating growth. It’s really a paradigm shift in the way businesses operate and interact with the world around them – from small-minded defense to big-hearted offense. As a management style it touches the entire constellation of relationships that a founder must juggle in order to make impossible happen – customers, commercial partners, existing team, new talent, investors, advisors, and the media. It’s an indictment of our expectations that this eminently sensible approach is considered fringe, extreme, even dubious.
Right now I’m practicing a limited version of what Levels is doing with Skin In The Game. But in the weeks and months ahead I intend to share more of my process:
Seed investors in Skin In The Game becoming syndicate investors in the startups we bring to the table and vice-versa;
A crowdsourced due diligence process that leverages the collective intelligence of our group to de-risk and demystify startup investing;
Domain expertise in sports, health, and entertainment being shared by experts in our community with startups looking for game-changing advice.
Earlier in this piece, I made a distinction between those who know me personally, and those who’ve gotten to know me through this newsletter. That distinction no longer exists. I genuinely believe those of you who know me through my writing know me better than close friends who don’t subscribe to Skin In The Game. We are all changing, all the time – sharing our thoughts with others, sending them into the black hole of the Internet, does more than document that evolution. It facilitates the very change it describes.
Something has changed. I’m building a life as an investor, and I’m inviting you to join me and do the same. Let’s put aside our petty fears, anxieties, and self-consciousness.
Let’s learn in public, together.
Deal flow
🎰 Baron Davis, Paul George Back ‘Discord for Sports Betting’ – Former NBA player-turned-investor Baron Davis and Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George have backed Chalkboard, participating in the approximately $1.5 million pre-seed round that just closed.
🏒 Private Equity Deals Are Coming to the NHL – Private equity’s push into major US sports has been one of the biggest sports business developments of the past two years. Faced with soaring valuations and COVID-related financial challenges, the leagues are hoping to make minority sales easier by allowing owners access to capital.
🇧🇦 Bosnian tech startup Rolla raises 1.6M euro in Series A funding round – Bosnian tech startup Rolla has raised 1.6 million euros in a Series A financing round from two investors – Cyprus-based Hellens Rock Capital and an unnamed angel investor from Serbia.
🧗♀️ Odell Beckham Jr invested in CLMBR, a connected vertical climbing machine – The LA Rams wide receiver will also serve as an ambassador and joins a star-studded investment group including Jay-Z, Pitbull, June Ambrose, Novak Djokovic, Ryan Seacrest and Chad Hurley.
⚽️ La Liga Ratifies CVC Deal, Ligue 1 Could Be Next – CVC is also one of a handful of private equity firms bidding on a similar arrangement from the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which oversees Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. The company is taking bids for a stake of up to 20%, worth around $1.7 billion, in a new company that will hold the leagues’ media rights. Bain Capital, Advent, Apollo, Bridgepoint, EQT, KKR, and Silver Lake are also reportedly preparing offers.
💰 Frameplay Announces $8 Million Series A Funding Round Led By Hiro Capital – Frameplay, a company that constructs immersive intrinsic in-game advertising experiences, closed a $8 million Series A funding round. The financing round was led by Hiro Capital and includes other investors heavily involved in the gaming industry, bringing key strategic value for Frameplay’s long-term growth.
💆♀️ Physiotherapy-focussed platform Phyt.Health secures seed funding – Phyt.Health, a healthtech platform focussed on physiotherapy, has raised $1.5 million (Rs 11 crore) in a seed round of funding led by US-based private investment firm Lunsford Capital.
📹 AI video avatar platform Synthesia raises $50M in venture capital – Synthesia, a London-based artificial intelligence startup that creates video avatars of real people, said on Wednesday it raised $50 million from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins and GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, and other investors.
🤩 Star Power: The Athletes, Celebrities, and Influencers Investing in Health & Fitness Brands – Athlete VC. Nothing new, sports stars often sign massive endorsement deals. But, prominent pros are leveling up, becoming venture capitalists or founders in their own right. With long-term upside and passion for a product, athletes have a vested interest in promoting a brand to their massive, engaged fanbase. On the flipside, companies tap athletes for awareness, distribution, and relevance in culture.
🥚 Perfeggt readies its chicken-less egg alternative with $2.8m fundraise – Investors in the round included EVIG Group, Stray Dog Capital, Good Seed Ventures, E2JDJ, Tet Ventures, and Shio Capital.
🍄 Noetic Commits to Investing $6.95M into Seed Round for The Alexander Shulgin Research Institute for Psychedelic Drug Discovery and Development – Noetic Fund led the Seed round for the Alexander Shulgin Research Institute, a psychedelic drug discovery company focused on the design, chemical synthesis, and pharmacological evaluation of novel compounds, as well as characterization of compounds from the Shulgin Vault, which contains hundreds of compounds created by Sasha Shulgin before his passing. The total Seed financing round completed at $7.2 million.
🐓 Sundial Foods Announces $4M Seed Round to Bring Vegan Whole-cut Chicken Wings to Market – Sundial Foods, a plant-based meats company, raised a $4 million seed round that includes Nestlé, Food Labs, Clear Current Capital, SOSV / IndieBio, and others.
🎤 Selena Gomez co-founds mental health venture – Texan singer, actor, producer and entrepreneur Selena Gomez is trying on another hat for size after co-founding a media company focused on mental health. Wondermind, set to launch in February 2022, is an online platform aimed at helping people to build positive habits and connect with others. It will offer tools and educational resources including podcasts and other media in a bid to end the stigma around mental illnesses.
💡 Filmmaker and TV personality Karan Johar plays in $50m funding round for consumer electronics brand Nothing – Other strategic and private investors in the series A extension include cricketer and entrepreneur Yuvraj Singh and Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, according to media reports. The round was completed in October, but the Indian celebrity investors were only announced last week.
⛪️ SoftBank and celebrities back funding for faith-based app – A Christian worship and meditation app, Glorify, raised $40 million from investors including SoftBank, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and reality TV star Kris Jenner, the company said on Thursday. Michael Buble and Jason Derulo also participated.
🧘♀️ New-age Fitness Startup StepSetGo Raises ₹ 5 Cr in Seed Funding Round – Founded by Shivjeet Ghatge, Misaal Turakhia, Abhay Pai and Zaheer Khan, the Mumbai-based, StepSetGo, a Huddle accelerated venture with over 9 million users, raised INR 5 Crores seed funding from 4 renowned investors. The round has seen participation from Huddle, Singapore-based BeyondSeed, along with Dexter Angels and Seeders LLP.
🃏 SendOwl, a platform for selling digital goods, raises $4.5M from Defy.vc, Stripe and others – SendOwl, a platform used to sell and deliver digital products, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Defy.vc, with participation from Stripe and other investors. SendOwl enables creators and businesses to sell digital goods such as e-books, podcasts, online courses, memberships, coaching services, live remote events and more.
🇮🇳 Indian healthtech startup Pristyn Care enters unicorn club after $85m fundraise – Gurugram-based healthtech startup Pristyn Care is said to have entered the unicorn club after raising about $85 million (Rs 641 crore) in a Series E funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Other investors who participated in the round include: Tiger Global Management, Hummingbird Ventures, Epiq Capital, QED, and Amber Winter.
🇺🇸 Edgewell Personal Care Announces Acquisition of Billie – Edgewell Personal Care Company has acquired Billie, a leading US based consumer brand company that offers a broad portfolio of personal care products for women, in an all-cash transaction at a purchase price of $310 million, subject to customary adjustments. The transaction has cleared under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and has closed.
🧫 The EVERY Company Closes Oversubscribed $175 Million Series C Round as It Drives Scale-up of Its B2B Animal-free Protein Platform – A leading precision fermentation platform accelerating a global transition to animal-free protein closed $175 million in Series C financing. The round was co-led by new investor, McWin, and existing investor, Rage Capital. Other new and existing investors joined the round including Temasek, Grosvenor’s Wheatsheaf Group, and TO Ventures. Prosus Ventures also contributed to the funding, marking its first investment in synthetic biology.
👩⚖️ Minority & Female-Owned Asian-Inspired Oatmeal Brand Raises $3.13 Million And Gainis National Distribution – Led by XXY Ventures along with CompanyFirst and several other partners, Yishi extended its initial 2020 pre-seed round.
🧴 ‘Multigenerational’ Skin Care Brand Evereden Raises $32 Million – Skin care brand Evereden has raised a $32 million Series C, led by GSR Ventures. Co-founder Kimberley Ho launched Evereden three years ago. The business is centered around clean, multigenerational skin care and the brand’s products include Golden Belly Serum, $32; Nourishing Baby Face Cream, $28, and Nourishing Stretch Mark Cream, $45.
👂 OxiWear closes pre-seed funding round at $1.25M – OxiWear successfully closed a pre-seed funding round at $1.25M, oversubscribed above its goal of $750,000. OxiWear is a medtech and sportstech startup company developing an ear-wearable pulse oximeter for 24-hour, continuous oxygen monitoring, and low-oxygen alerting.
🩸 Proov to Expand Women’s Hormone Health Solutions to Advance Women’s Health and Offer More Accessible Care with $9.7M Series A Funding – Proov, creator of the first and only FDA-cleared PdG-testing kit to educate and empower women about their reproductive health, raised $9.7 million in Series A Funding. The round was led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures. Additionally, venture capital firms SteelSky Ventures, WCC Partners, Lightship Capital, GingerBread Capital, and Portfolia FemTech II Fund participated in the round.
🥒 Superfood Company LiveKuna Secures Series A Funding To Expand North American Footprint And Fuel Product Innovation – LiveKuna, a vertically integrated superfood company established in Ecuador, closed a Series A round led by Grupo Bimbo with participation from SOSV and AMADEO.
🏈 Former Tennessee Football Coach Phillip Fulmer Invests in Athlete Licensing Company – Athlete Licensing Company's software aims to be a service for stakeholders such as athletes, parents, agents, universities, boosters and sponsors. The platform can be used to file and report tax information, while also advising student-athletes on NIL pricing and industry trends, among other features.
🦵 DC startup raises millions to upend knee-replacement surgeries – D.C.’s Nanochon LLC just got a step closer in its quest to get a 3D-printed implant to market — thanks to $2 million in fresh funding and the potential to raise more. The company’s seed round, led by University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group’s seed fund, closed at $2 million in September, Nanochon co-founder and CEO Ben Holmes said in an interview. And it’s oversubscribed, now in the process of raising more before a second close.
🇧🇭 Bahrain foodtech Calo raises $13.5M in seed funding – Bahrain-based foodtech Calo has raised $13.5 million in a seed-funding round, co-led by Khwarizmi Ventures, Nuwa Capital, and STV, Wamda reported. The amount is among the largest seed rounds raised by a direct-to-consumer foodtech startup in the world.
🎮 Jordan-based Tamatem Games closes $11m funding round – Jordan-based Arab mobile game publisher Tamatem Games has successfully raised $11 million in a Series B funding round. The investment will be used to fuel its expansion strategy across the region with initial focus on Saudi Arabia where it will hire local talent. The round was led by KRAFTON, makers of the popular battle royale game PUBG.
⛹️♀️ Patricof Co’s Vision for Athlete Investors – The founder of the athlete investment platform Patricof Co first got his idea for the investment vehicle while sitting on the set of Verizon’s Go90 streaming show “MVP” – think “Shark Tank” meets sports – alongside his co-star NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Some tweets
On Sunday my entire family sat down for two hours to watch a bunch of very expensive cars do laps of a marina in Abu Dhabi. We’ve never done that before, and we probably won’t ever do it again. Regardless of the controversy, it was an incredible production and spectacle. The guys at F1 really know what they’re doing.
Cheers,
Ed
—
Edward Rhys
Founder / Skin In The Game
www.skininthegamegroup.com
A favour
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And if you can spare the time, get in touch with your thoughts. Whether entrepreneur, investor, exec, or sports fan, your input will help me to improve what I’m doing and serve the Skin In The Game family better.
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Skin In The Game is a startup investment club connecting investors with visionary sports, health, and entertainment startups. We provide a regulated platform for investors and entrepreneurs to collaborate and co-invest.
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