Capital is flowing back into the startups in web3, gaming, fitness, and more this week. Athletes continue to invest in sports and startups as new deals were announced by LeBron, Sue Bird, and Eli Manning. And don’t miss a video below where I discuss the founding story of Beyond The Game and share more about our athlete network and investment process.
Top Stories
VeeFriends Raises $50MM
🐻 Gary Vaynerchuk launched VeeFriends last year as a new media brand with a goal of being the next Disney. The first collection featured hand drawn animals reflecting Gary Vee’s values. He closed a funding round led by A16Z to expand. Read
Players’ Lounge Closes Series A
🕹️ Players’ Lounge is the leader in skills-based competitions in video gaming. The company closed a $10.5MM funding led by Griffin Gaming participation from pro athletes and us at Beyond The Game. Read
Tech news, capital raises, and more
🛌🏻 Smart mattress Bryte closes $10MM funding here
🏃♀️ Sweatcoin gets $13.5MM to run into web3 more
🏟️ Stadium Live adds $10MM for sports metaverse details
🏀 Breakthrough VR raises $8MM for hoops game read
📸 OneOf brings in $8MM for celeb NFTs here
🎮 Artie web3 gaming CEO on video podcast watch
🌐 Zwerner on Web3 web domains here
Athletes in the News
📺 Learn the founding story of Beyond The Game watch
🎥 Socios fan token platform pays $100MM for Barca Studios stake more
⚽ Sue Bird and Eli invest in NY NWSL team details
🚴♂️ LeBron invests in Canyon Bicycles read
Highlighting Diversity in Tech
👩🏿💼 Comcast donates $1MM to diverse founders read
💸 Pitch competitions, grants, and events directory here
Portfolio Company Job Postings
Oura Ring (Health): Product and Engineer roles here
Eight Sleep (Fitness): Engineer, Growth, Product roles here
Future (Fitness): Product and Engineer roles here
Artie (Gaming): Engineer and Design roles here
GreenPark Sports (Gaming): Engineer and Creative roles here
Offbeat (Media): Social Media roles here