The Athlete-Philosopher – New additions to our squad – San Francisco 49ers get into VC – Electronic sleep aids – Musculoskeletal healthcare – Pioneers in genomics – Sustainable food revolution
Week 45
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Skin In The Game is an FCA regulated Investment Club connecting investors with groundbreaking startups in sports & health and experts with the domain expertise to de-risk investments.
It’s free to join and members get access to live investment opportunities, insights on investing in sports & health from our community of industry experts, and access to our private LinkedIn group and events.
Our Squad
We’re on a mission to systematically de-risk investments in sports & health startups via a decentralised network of industry experts. This week we’re absolutely pumped to announce the first additions to our expert network.
🇬🇧 Hashim Syed – Technology / Generalist – Product Lead @Google, Entrepreneur-In-Residence @Antler, Mentor @Wayra Accelerator and @Venture for Pakistan. Formerly @Microsoft, @Meta (Facebook).
🇨🇦 David Mirynech – Web3 – Founder & CEO @FanClub Sports Capital, Board Advisor @Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab. Formerly @Exponential, @MLG Capital, @Blockchain Research Institute.
🇺🇸 Sandy Zinn – SportsTech – Founder & CEO @Zinn Sports Group, Advisor @MOVRS @In-Form Sports @Qatar SportsTech @Emissary.io @SportIn Global @Gemini Sports Analytics @Global Sports Innovation Hub @Pokatok. Formerly @ESPN, @Major League Baseball.
🇬🇧 Sharon Wright – Go-to-Market Strategy – Owner @Nurture, Advisor @Keystage Ventures, Startup Mentor @Sport Tech Hub. Formerly @Reebok, @Adidas, @Nike.
🇦🇺 Edward Fitzgibbon – SportsTech & Sports Rights – Principal Consultant @Sports Rights Tech. Formerly @North Melbourne Football Club, @Global Solutions, @KORE Software, @NYZ Consulting, Consultant @Liverpool FC @Caribbean Premier League @Pitch International @Brooklyn Nets.
🇬🇧 Ben Mercer – Content & Storytelling Expert – Amazon Best Selling Author, Formerly @Life After Professional Sport, @Stade Rouennais Rugby, @Cornish Pirates, @Plymouth Albion.
Confessions
This week a friend posed an interesting question in response to one of our LinkedIn posts, asking how athletes manage uncertainty.
We’ve written before about the unlikely link between professional athletes and startup performance – listing a bunch of characteristics that crossover between business and sports domains: Fast-moving, hyper-competitive landscapes; emphasis on teamwork; experimentation and adaptation; extreme risk-taking; normalisation of physical and mental hardship; operating under extreme pressure; move fast and break things (literally).
These are all important elements of the athletic experience – but above all else, I believe that the ability to cope with uncertainty – and indeed, thrive upon it – is the defining characteristic of our greatest athletes.
A few years ago I noticed that a lot of people in my network were adopting Stoicism as a tool for optimising performance. One book specifically seemed to be the gateway drug to this worldview – Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is The Way.
It’s a great read; one that manages to bring ancient Greek philosophy to life with examples from the grand sweep of sporting, business, and political history. The book is a glorious mashup of biographies and anecdotes – one that includes a politician/bodybuilder/actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a hip hop star (LL Cool J), an Irish tennis pro (James McGee), an NFL lineman (Garrett Gilkey, Bucs), a renowned sideline reporter (Michele Tafoya, NBC), an Olympian (cross-country skier Chandra Crawford), a performance coach (Andy McKay, Mariners), a baseball manager (Joe Maddon, Cubs) and a college basketball coach (Shaka Smart, Texas). Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy underscores the utility of the book for athletes when he candidly confesses:
“If I had read The Obstacle Is the Way sooner, a few things might have been different.”
This 2015 article from Sports Illustrated does a good job of charting the somewhat unlikely link between ancient Greek philosophy and elite sports, through the lens of NFL performance coaching. At the root of it all is a healthy obsession with controlling the controllables.
The Stoics are famous for sorting human experience into two columns – things you can can control, and things you can’t. According to the likes of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca, a truly good life results from focusing on the former, and disregarding the latter.
But what about the liminal space between what we can control and what we can’t? As William B. Irvine points out in his fine intro to Stoicism, we need a third way:
Irvine’s “Trichotomy of Control” reminds us that our lives are packed with experiences that play out on the threshold – the line between order and chaos. “Things over which we have some but not complete control” is, in fact, an apt description of life itself, it’s elusive quality. And the greatest athletes excel in precisely this area.
Consider Roger Federer in his pomp, playing a Wimbledon final. Clearly he has some control over the outcome of the final, but when you play against a competitor like Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic, with access to great genetics, work ethics, coaching teams and big match experience, no fixture will ever be entirely within your control.
Managing uncertainty is about the internalisation of goals. The aim is not to win the match, an outcome subject to exogenous factors – the aim is to deliver the best performance you are capable of, something that is within your control. The ancients recognised this subtlety, as does modern day philosopher-investor Warren Buffett:
“The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.”
Living by an inner scorecard means managing our emotions – both positive and negative. It means defining ourselves according to our own performance, not that of others.
The liminal space between what’s controllable and uncontrollable… isn’t that where the greatest athletes operate? Less a stage, more a laboratory where innovators invest time, money, and monumental effort in pushing the frontier of human performance with every idea and technology at their disposal.
Athletes inhabit a dis-comfort zone where magic can and does happen; on our screens, in our wildest imaginations, they whisper to us of our own untapped potential. They bring us hope – and we love them for it.
Deal Flow
This week we have 28 deals across Fitness, Wellness, Mental health, Care, Health, Esports, Nutrition, Funds & Accelerators, Fertility & Maternity, Media, and Athlete Empowerment.
Fitness
🏃♀️ Runna raises $0.7M to change the way people train – The company's cap table now includes ultra athlete Joshua Patterson who joined us as a Director and British Olympian Stephanie Davis who joins the coaching team. They were joined by a diverse portfolio of Angel investors as well as hundreds of members of the Runna community who joined the company's crowdfund.
🏋️♀️ New growth capital for Urban Gym Group – Fitness chain Urban Gym Group (UGG) has raised €16M in capital. This month the new share issue was completed. Additionally, the growth capital comes from Rabobank and the Dutch Mezzanine Fund (DMF).
🤸♀️ Trustmark Acquires FitReserve to Expand Existing Fitness Capabilities – Employee benefits provider Trustmark is pleased to announce the acquisition of FitReserve, a multi-studio fitness subscription that allows members to mix and match in-person, live stream, and on-demand workouts from the top studios and instructors.
Wellness
😴 StimScience Announces the First Electronic Sleep Aid That Goes Beyond Tracking and Is Proven To Improve Sleep – After conducting over 1,500 nights of sleep studies, a dream team of researchers and sleep experts launch the Somnee electronic headband to end restless nights. The company closed a successful $8.3M seed funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Monozukuri Ventures and Great Eagle Holdings. StimScience has also teamed up with the Langham Hospitality Group to give guest and staff access to Somnee devices.
🇮🇳 Wellness platform AyuRythm raises Seed fund from IAN, others – AyuRythm, a personalised holistic wellness platform, has raised an undisclosed amount in an oversubscribed Seed funding round led by Indian Angel Network (IAN). The round also saw participation from SucSeed and other marquee angel investors.
🦴 Announcing Zen’s $3.5M Pre-Seed Raise – Support came from Y Combinator, Valor Equity Partners, Goodwater Capital, Samsung Next, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, Socii Capital, Dragon Capital, and TRUE Culture Fund. We also want to shout out a few funds that bet on us very early, such as Toy Ventures, VentureSouq, Halo Labs, Blue Trail Partners, Asymmetry Ventures, Warbler Ventures, Diverse Angels, Thredbo Ventures, and Alchemist. They also have the support of a diverse group of angels such as Collin Wallace, Dan Hill, Yuan Chen, Peter Hazlehurst, Ralph Gootee, Ciara Peter, Marlon Castillo, Ishan Chhabra, Roman Rosario, Daniel Shi, and Toshi Masubuchi.
Mental Health
👂 Heard collects $10M to help therapists listen – Footwork VC led Heard's funding round and was joined by Founders Co-Op, Act One Ventures, and individual backers including Akins Van Horne, Cat Lee, Charley Ma, Cindy Bi, D’Arcy Coolican, Matthew Goldman, Nikhil Dixit and Nitya Subramanian.
🇬🇧 £650k backing for workplace mental health intervention platform – MyMynd, a mental health platform for employees, has received £650,000 in pre-seed funding. Investors include Triple Point Ventures and several angel investors including Andrew Nadin, Southeastern Grocer’s Chief Customer and Digital Officer; Maurice Abboudi, serial hospitality entrepreneur and investor on BBC 2’s ‘My Million Pound Menu’; and Will Jones, founder of online bookshop Wordery.
🧠 Osmind Raises $40M Series B Round Led by DFJ Growth to Expand Platform for Breakthrough Mental Health Research and Treatment – Osmind, the public benefit corporation helping clinicians and researchers advance new life-saving mental health treatments, closed a $40M Series B investment led by DFJ Growth. The Series B round brings the total amount of funding for Osmind to $57M since the company’s founding in 2020.
Care
💁♀️ Cleo acquires CareTribe to support all working families, adding expert support for all caregivers including adult care and special needs – Cleo, a global family support network, has acquired CareTribe, a Palo Alto-based company that provides expert guidance and tools to support family caregivers, and uses advanced analytics to help them develop personalised action plans to improve outcomes across career, health and wellness for both working caregivers and the loved ones they are caring for.
Health
🦴 Upswing Health, Whose Condition-Based Musculoskeletal Healthcare Eliminates Systemic Waste, Closes $5M Seed Round – This $5M round features participation from new and existing investors - leaders in digital health, technology and finance- including Montage Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, WTI, Ikigai Healthcare Fund and other strategics.
🇲🇽 Mexican Healthtech Welbe Raises $3M In A Round Led by Nazca – The Nazca investment fund led the round. Marathon Ventures, H20, and various angel investors also participated in the investment, including Ricardo Weder, founder of Jüsto; David Geisen, country manager for Mexico of Mercado Libre; André Maxnuk, CEO of Mercer in Mexico and Luis Berrondo, Director of M&A, Crédito Real.
👩⚕️ Nurse-led startup Lumify Care raised a seed round and launched its marketplace app – The startup recently raised a $1.25M seed round with participation from Y Combinator, Flare Capital, Gaingels, Fresco Capital, Crista Galli Ventures, and individual investors, like Philly founder Mark Switaj, of Roundtrip.
🇵🇰 Health-tech startup Medznmore raises $11.5m in pre-Series A funding – MEDZnMORE has raised $11.5M in pre-Series A funding round, making it the biggest such deal for any health-tech startup in Pakistan. The deal is backed by Integra Partners, Nunc Gestion, Sturgeon Capital and Alta Semper. Other investors include AlTouq Group, ACE & Company, Key Family Partners, Reflect Ventures, Atlas Asset Management and a few angel investors.
🇺🇸 Handspring Health announces a $6.2M seed financing – This round was co-led by Newark Venture Partners and NextView Ventures, with participation from 25madison Ventures, Arkitekt Ventures, Quantum Angels, and other prominent healthcare operators.
❤️ Hello Heart Closes $70M Series D Funding Following Significant Increase in Employers Market Demand for Heart Health Solutions – The round was led by growth equity firm Stripes, and marks Hello Heart’s leadership in cardiovascular digital therapeutics and proven ability to close gaps in heart health.
👩⚕️ Healthmap's $35M round to scale up kidney care – GuideWell and Highmark Ventures – are backing kidney population health management company Healthmap Solutions.
🤝 LetsGetChecked to Acquire Veritas Genetics and Veritas Intercontinental to Unlock the Future of Personalised At-Home Healthcare – LetsGetChecked, a healthcare solutions company, acquired Veritas Genetics and Veritas Intercontinental, pioneers in genomics.
Esports & Metaverse
🎮 Bayes Esports receives €6m strategic investment – Bayes Esports has completed another round of financing, securing €6m from several tech and gaming investors. The Berlin-based start-up is on track to double its 2021 run rate, a year that saw it crack €10m. Among those involved in Bayes’ most recent round of financing include casino operator Las Vegas Sands, whom the start-up said was its main investor.
Nutrition
🌶 Slutty Vegan Founder Pinky Cole Raises $25M In Series A Funding Round With Danny Meyer As A Lead Investor – The company has raised $25M through a Series A funding round that values the four-year-old brand at $100M. Investors included entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis’ New Voices Fund and restaurateur Danny Meyer's Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
☘️ Clean, Regenerative Plant Protein Brand Mikuna Raises $5.6m in Seed Funding – For its seed funding, the Mikuna roster of investors includes Olympians and World Champion athletes like Leticia Bufoni, professional skateboarder and six-time X Games gold medalist, professional surfer and three-time world champion Mick Fanning, and professional snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist Sage Kotsenburg. The brand has also attracted investments from industry leaders like Joe Kudla, founder and CEO of Vuori Clothing; Shannan North, President of Boardriders; DJs & music producers Paul Fisher and Chris Lake; Bill and Laurie Benenson, award-winning documentary film directors and producers, and many others.
Funds, Accelerators & Venture Builders
🏈 San Francisco 49ers Owners Are Deep Into Venture Capital – As the team strives to hoist the Lombardi trophy again, Aurum Partners – the York family’s venture capital fund affiliated with the 49ers – has quietly invested in around 40 companies.
💰 Elevate Sports Ventures secures Arctos investment – Arctos Sports Partners has closed its investment into global consulting firm Elevate Sports Ventures, the latest addition to a rapidly growing portfolio of sports teams and other related businesses.
Fertility & Maternity
🧫 Sperm-focused fertility startup Legacy banks $25M - Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by FirstMark Capital, Section 32 and TQ Ventures.
🤰 Maternal Health Startup Mahmee Raises $9.2M Series A Led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management – Mahmee, a maternal healthcare startup, closed a $9.2M Series A round led by the Growth Equity Business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The round also features participation from existing investors including Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Muse Capital, Backstage Capital, The Helm, and Pipeline Angels.
Media
📺 Sizzle.gg Raises $5M in Seed Round – Sizzle.gg, an AI-driven patented platform that creates automatic and personalised highlights for esports leagues and teams, video game streamers and more, has officially raised $5M in a seed funding round led by White Star Capital along with Progression Fund, Eterna Capital, Play Ventures, Mindset Ventures, Xoogler Ventures and others.
Athlete Empowerment
🏀 Kobe Bryant made $400M from a $6M investment: How Lakers legend’s estate made more money from BodyArmor than ‘Black Mamba’ did by playing 20 years – Kobe Bryant, along with his business partner, Jeff Stibel, founded a venture capital firm worth $100M in 2013 and used this to invest a plethora of businesses that they felt were the right choices.
💪 Rio Ferdinand-backed tech for good startup opens crowdfund – An app aiming to help people to reclaim their economic power and drive real-world change is launching a crowdfunding campaign with Crowdcube. WeAre8, backed by former England defender Rio Ferdinand, sports presenter Clare Balding and Channel 4, is giving the public a chance to claim a stake in a company ‘reimagining social media for people and the planet’.
Some Tweets
The Premier League relegation battle is in full swing and my Leeds are slap, bang in the middle of it (more like towards the bottom). Please excuse me if I seem a little anxious, irritable, and distracted over the coming days…
Yours in sports,
Ed
—
Ed Rhys
Co-Founder / Skin In The Game
www.skininthegamegroup.com
Join our Investment Club
If you find this newsletter useful, consider joining our FCA regulated Investment Club connecting investors with groundbreaking startups in sports & health and industry experts with the domain expertise to de-risk investments.
It’s free to join and members get access to live investment opportunities, insights on investing in sports & health from our community of industry experts, and access to our private LinkedIn group and events.
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