Gaining a Co-Founder – Table-Tennis-On-Demand – Pioneering indoor cycling – Stadium Security – In vitro diagnostic testing – Healthier buildings – Plant-based fish – Indoor agriculture – Allergy Care
Week 40
Skin In The Game is a weekly newsletter dedicated to investing in sports. We highlight the startups and investors shaping the future of sports and its adjacent markets.
We also run a regulated investment community that connects sports investors with founder and industry experts across emerging technologies like the Metaverse, Web3, AI, and Psychedelics.
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Confessions
When I started Skin In The Game I didn’t want a co-founder. I was fixated on going it alone and retaining 100% control over the direction of the business.
But there’s a reason why Hacker News is littered with posts about solo founders failing. This solopreneur stuff is HARD. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed (in a sado-masochistic kind of way) working on my own and confronting some uncomfortable truths about myself… plus some inner reserves I didn’t know were there.
I never wanted or expected to find a co-founder. So when Scott Newall called me up and said he wanted to fully commit to Skin In The Game, I was taken aback.
Scott has been helping me as an advisor for the past few months and our relationship has resulted in something that only two workaholic sports-obsessed bearded men of a certain age could produce – a startup that is uniquely ours.
Those of you who know Scott, know what he offers. Action, not words. And the truth is that Scott didn’t need to ask about becoming a co-founder – thanks to his ideas, work ethic, and vision, in my mind he already was one.
As someone who loves startups, investing, and sports, and is building a business around that, I would be foolish in the extreme to pass on the opportunity to go into business with him.
We’re in the investment business, and I see this as the biggest investment this company will make. An investment in a person. I’m betting on Scott, and he’s betting on me. Nassim Nicholas Taleb (who’s book “Skin In The Game” inspired the name of our company) has pointed out that:
“How much you truly “believe” in something can be manifested only through what you are willing to risk for it.”
I’m grateful to Scott for the belief he’s shown, and the risk he is now taking. I’m absolutely pumped to be welcoming him as my co-founder at Skin In The Game, and I know our investors, advisors, and community will feel the same way.
Welcome big man! Now let’s get to work 👷👷♂️
Deal Flow
🎮 FTX, Animoca Back Gaming Platform Valued at $500M – Blockchain gaming platform C2X has raised $25 million through a private token sale, valuing the business at $500 million. Led by FTX Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Jump Crypto, the sale also included Galaxy Interactive, Huobi Ventures, Crypto.com, and blockchain gaming venture fund Hashed.
🎮 Read 6 key slides from a pitch deck that a startup trying to bring elements of TikTok to sports betting used to land $1 million in seed funding – Kero Sports, a startup that powers gaming experiences inside the apps of professional sports teams, has closed its first $1 million in seed funding. The startup has attracted some prominent investors in the early-stage sports gambling and online gaming arenas, including Acies Investments, Lloyd Danzig's Sharp Alpha Fund, David Sargeant's iGaming Ideas, and more.
🚴♀️ Sports tech start-up Muoverti passes £2.4 million in investment – Muoverti, the pioneer in indoor cycling behind the innovative TiltBikes, recently passed another million pound milestone in funding from investors, taking the total raised by the London-based sports tech startup to more than £2.4m.
🤝 Connecting brands and the e-sports streaming industry, Aggero raises $2 million – London-based Aggero has raised $2 million in a seed round. The company connects brands and advertisers with the gaming/e-sports streaming industry providing analytics and monetisation mechanics. Aggero’s $2 million seed round was led by LAUNCHub Ventures with GapMinder, SCM Advisors, Klaas Kersting, and Phil Mohr participating. The new investors join bValue, Founders Factory, Engine Media, and a host of angel investors including Sundance DiGiovanni, Todd Harris, Craig Fletcher, Chris Chaney, Wouter Sleijfers, Joe Zhou, Darrel Lewis, Malin Stefanescu, Dan Ghita, and Octavian Patrascu.
🚣♀️ Connected Rowing Company Hydrow Secures $55M Series D – Hydrow, makers of a connected rowing machine, raised $55M in a Series D round led by Constitution Capital, with participation from L Catterton, Rx3 Growth Partners, and others.
⌚️ Apollo Neuro Raises $15M in Series A Funding at Valuation Of Over $100M – Apollo Neuro, a Pittsburgh, PA-based maker of a scientifically validated wearable that improves the body’s resilience to stress, raised $15m in Series A funding at a valuation over $100m. The round was led by Noetic Fund.
🧫 BioCoach Reaches $100 Million Valuation for Its Innovative Approach to Digital Health Solutions – BioCoach, a leader in direct-to-consumer in-vitro diagnostic testing, received $4 million in funding from SecretLab LLC to kick metabolic disease in the ass. The seed round will allow BioCoach to begin to scale its new digital health platform.
🤖 Woebot Health Secures $9.5 Million Investment From Leaps by Bayer – Woebot Health announced that Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, has made a $9.5 million strategic investment in the company to help accelerate further development of its AI-powered behavioural health platform and products. The stake in Woebot Health marks Leaps by Bayer's first investment in mental health.
🧪 MYND Life Sciences Executes a Non-Binding MOU with Tidal Psychedelics – MYND Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical research and development company creating innovative precision medicines for patients with relentless neurological diseases, announced it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Tidal Care.
💰 W-S sports tech startup spins out $1.4M fundraise, more coming – The sports technology firm F5 Sports has closed more than $1.4 million in new equity funding from 11 investors.
🩸 Glooko Acquires DIABNEXT to Expand Diabetes Offerings in France – Glooko, a leading provider of remote patient monitoring and data management solutions for diabetes and related chronic conditions, announced the acquisition of DIABNEXT, a Paris-based company whose digital health platform helps people with diabetes better manage their conditions and connects to their healthcare providers.
🏓 PingPod Closes $10 Million Series A Funding for Expansion – PingPod, the 24/7 autonomous Table-Tennis-On-Demand concept with three NYC locations currently open, three more in the pipeline, and a Philadelphia location set to launch this spring, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Heritage. KittyHawk Ventures and Draper Gain Family Office also participated in the round.
🤩 Natalie Portman, Shark Tank's Chris Sacca invest in Boston foodtech – Tender, which goes by the legal name of Boston Meats, is planting its flag in the crowded plant-based meat market. Its new products replicate the structures and textures of whole muscle cuts from animals.
🏢 Clairify raises – Clairify successfully completed its seed funding, welcoming new investors Rockstart and Oost NL joining us in its mission to create healthier buildings.
🐟 Plant-Based Fish Startup Plantish Raises Largest Seed Round in Alt Seafood History – Alt seafood pioneer Plantish, which uses plant proteins to create premium, whole-cut fish, has raised $12.45 million in seed funding, the largest seed round to date in the burgeoning alternative seafood market. The round was led by State Of Mind Ventures, with participation from Pitango Health Tech, Unovis Capital, TechAviv Founder Partners, SmartAgro, E2JDJ, Alumni Ventures, and OurCrowd. The company had previously raised $2 million in pre-seed funding in June 2021, from TechAviv Founder Partners, a venture fund backed by top industry veterans, and angel investors including Chef José Andrés, and Nuseir Yassin from Nas Daily.
👩⚖️ Better & Better Announces $4 Million Funding To Innovate the Personal Care Industry With First-to-Market Vitamin-Infused Products – Better & Better, a company innovating the wellness industry with vitamin-infused products incorporated into everyday habits, closed $4 million in funding led by newly-founded global fund Fifth Quarter Ventures (FQV), and supported by Will Smith and Keisuke Honda's Dreamer's Fund, Azure Capital, Alpaca Ventures, and other investors.
🇺🇸 Local Bounti to Acquire Pete's for $122.5 Million – Local Bounti, a breakthrough US indoor agriculture company combining the best aspects of vertical and greenhouse growing technologies, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire California-based complementary indoor farming company Hollandia Produce Group, which operates under the name Pete's, for total consideration of $122.5 million.
🐝 MeliBio Announces $5.7M Seed Funding To Make Real Honey Without Bees – MeliBio raises $5.7 million dollars to scale and commercialize sustainable and nutritious bee-free honey aimed at disrupting the $10 billion dollar honey industry. The $5.7M seed funding round was led by Astanor Ventures with participation from existing investors Big Idea Ventures and 18 Ventures, and new investors Skyview Capital, XRC Labs, Collaborative Fund, Midnight Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures, Siddhi Capital, Climate Capital Collective, Red Bridge Ventures, VegCapital, HackVentures and mission driven angel investors from Vevolution and GlassWall Syndicate groups.
👃 Nectar Secures $8M in Seed Funding to Revolutionise Allergy Care – Nectar, an innovative and comprehensive allergy care platform, closed an $8 million seed round led by Juxtapose and Obvious Ventures.
🧃 Resugar announces $3 million in Series A funding investment to fuel global expansion for manufacturing the first truly no-compromise sugar substitute – The round was led by Eitan Yochananof, CEO and Director of Israeli grocery giant M. Yochananof and Sons (YHNF.TA), with participation by private investors.
👵 Kizoo Portfolio Company Revel Pharmaceuticals Announces $8.4M Seed to Develop Repairing-Based Approaches to Reversing Aging – The oversubscribed round was led by Kizoo Technology Capital, a leading early-stage investor in breakthrough rejuvenation technologies, and Starbloom Capital with participation from Tubus LLC. The funds will support Revel as it advances its repair-based enzyme therapy pipeline towards the clinic.
🤰 These investors went through IVF. Now they’re putting $22 million behind an A.I. fertility startup – Anarghya Vardhana had been looking to invest in the fertility space for some time. After her own journey with in-vitro fertilization, the Maveron partner wanted to back a startup that was truly looking to transform the fertility experience. Instead, she found that most offered surface-level improvements.
🤝 Fullscript Completes Acquisition of Emerson Ecologics to Accelerate Adoption of Integrative Medicine – Fullscript, the leading care delivery platform for integrative medicine, completed the acquisition of Emerson Ecologics, a long-standing player in the integrative healthcare industry.
🎮 FTX Acquires Good Luck Games Amid Gaming Push – Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has acquired Good Luck Games, developer of the upcoming card battle game Storybook Brawl for an undisclosed amount.
👟 Hylo Athletics lands £2.5m Series A funding – Hylo Athletics, an environmentally friendly athletic footwear start-up based in London, has raised a Series A round of £2.5m. The round was led by Eka Ventures, with participation from Redrice Ventures, Mahr Projects and a range of angel investors including Leeds United and England footballer, Patrick Bamford.
🏟 Stadium Security Company Liberty Defense Raises $8 Million, Will Test System in Baltimore Stadiums – Liberty Defense has raised $8.62 million in private placement funding led by Canaccord Genuity Corp to help bring its weapons detection system to more stadiums. L
⚽️ Eksab gets $3M to scale its fantasy football platform across MENA and Africa – Eksab, an Egyptian platform that says it’s making football more exciting and interactive for every fan in both regions through gaming and online community building, has raised $ 3million in seed funding. The round led by 4DX Ventures saw participation from Darwazah Capital, Golden Palm Investments, P1 Ventures and some angel investors from sports and entertainment profession.
⛓ Google-backed Glance acquires gaming platform Gambit in NFT push – Glance has acquired India’s Gambit as the Google-backed firm looks to supercharge its mobile games offerings and introduce NFTs to its Gen-Z users.
🍏 A startup from Apple Health vets that promises personalised fitness and nutrition feedback raised $12M – Some veterans of Apple's health and fitness efforts think they can help you figure that out. Their new startup, dubbed Cor, offers a device that can help people assess how their individual bodies respond to particular fitness and nutrition regimes. Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund led Cor's $12 million Series A round.
🇨🇳 Fitness Startup Speediance Receives Pre-A Funding – An intelligent fitness startup based in Shenzhen – “the Silicon Valley of China” – is warming up for its next stage of growth. “Speediance” announced a multi-million-dollar Pre-A round funding led by venture capital firm FREES FUND.
🎮 SCCG Venture Fund invests in sports betting platform startup Play Caller – Alternative investment fund SCCG Venture Fund announced on Monday one of the first gaming opportunity investments in Play Caller Sports.
👩⚖️ 'We’re Building This Movement': Angel City FC Investors and Athletes on Women in Sports and Tech – Angel City has close ties with LA’s tech community, having been founded in 2020 with backing from investors like Upfront Ventures’ Kara Nortman, gaming entrepreneur Julie Uhrman and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Tennis legend (and Ohanian’s wife) Serena Williams is also an investor, as are celebrities like Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria and Jennifer Garner.
🇫🇷 French soccer star Blaise Matuidi just launched his own VC firm alongside an array of sporting giants like Paulo Dybala and N'Golo Kante – French soccer star Blaise Matuidi has gathered some of Europe's leading athletes to launch a new venture capital fund to target consumer startups in the US and Europe. Matuidi, part of France's World Cup-winning squad in 2018, has launched early-stage fund Origins with investment coming from over 50 athletes in sports such as football, tennis, and rugby, as well as institutional investors including French betting giant the FDJ Group.
📱 Linktree joins the unicorns in latest funding round – A business that helps brands and online influencers to capitalise on social media marketing has raised $110 million in fresh funding to reach a “unicorn” valuation of $1.3 billion. Linktree secured backing led by Index Ventures, the venture capital firm, and Coatue, the technology-focused investment manager.
🧠 Why this VC fund gives founders money to invest in their mental health – The responsibility of leading a startup can weigh heavily on founders. And a new Chicago venture firm wants help those startup executives get access to mental health resources in addition to investing in their business.
Some Tweets
If you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix (I appreciate how absurd that statement is), check out Bad Sport. Particuary the second episode, in which small-time pot dealer Randy Lanier funds his passion for car racing by taking his weed racket to new heights. It’s stranger than fiction – and gob-smackingly entertaining.
Yours in sports,
Ed
—
Ed Rhys
Co-Founder / Skin In The Game
www.skininthegamegroup.com
A favour
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. If you did, please share with friends who you think will get something out of it.
And if you can spare the time, get in touch with your thoughts. Whether founder, investor, or sports industry expert, your input will help me to improve what I’m doing and better serve the Skin In The Game community.
SKIN IN THE GAME LIMITED is registered in England and Wales under Company Number 13200102 and with the FCA as an Appointed Representative with FRN 946089. SKIN IN THE GAME LIMITED is an Appointed Representative of Finex LLP which is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) with firm reference number 507537.