WHOOP, the human performance company, has closed a $100 million Series E financing at a $1.2 billion valuation led by IVP.
Participating investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Accomplice, Two Sigma Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Thursday Ventures, Nextview Ventures, Promus Ventures, Cavu Ventures, D20 Capital, and LionTree Partners. Professional athletes investing include 2x NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant (via ThirtyFive Ventures), 11x Pro Bowler Larry Fitzgerald, Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, 2x Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, 4x Major Champion Rory McIlroy, and Major Champion Justin Thomas.
This new round of investment follows a period of tremendous growth for the WHOOP membership and overall business, and it will unlock new opportunities for the company. WHOOP will primarily invest these new funds in product and software development, global expansion, and membership services.
“We will continue to make WHOOP the best product experience for measuring and improving health,” said Will Ahmed, WHOOP Founder & CEO. “Human performance is a new category and WHOOP has emerged as both the pioneer and market leader. We’re proud to partner with IVP and other prominent investors who share our vision.”
WHOOP is a monthly subscription for 24/7 health monitoring across sleep, recovery, strain, and more. The WHOOP membership includes free hardware (WHOOP Strap 3.0) and a coaching platform designed to optimize behavior. Studies show that after a year on WHOOP, members experience longer and more consistent sleep, improved physiology, enhanced physical performance, and meaningful lifestyle changes.
“WHOOP has built best-in-class wearable technology and an aspirational brand that have propelled the company to an impressive period of hypergrowth,” said Eric Liaw, General Partner at IVP, who has joined the WHOOP Board of Directors. “We are excited to partner with a strong leadership team as WHOOP continues to revolutionize the market for human performance.”
Real Betis has unveiled ‘Forever Green’, a sustainability platform for companies through football.
Real Betis Balompié has presented the ‘Forever Green’ programme, a sustainability platform for companies and institutions that want to use the most popular sport in the world to help save the planet.
‘Forever Green’ is a commitment founded by Real Betis with the purpose of creating a conscience among the population about the current need of fighting against climate change.
“We think football is a worldwide loudspeaker and we see it as a great opportunity to create conscience about environmental problems, promoting Real Betis as a model to follow for other companies, clubs and fans”, stated Ángel Haro, president of the Green and White club. “We encourage all companies and institutions to join ‘Forever Green’, linking their image to the most popular sport in the world and to a cause supported by the younger generations.”
The aim of ‘Forever Green’ is to be an open platform for companies and institutions that want to get involved and show the world how they are going to contribute to the future of our planet, while also becoming a model to follow for football fans. The signing companies will have the chance to collaborate on the projects programmed by Real Betis to reduce carbon emissions and create a bigger social conscience in order to address the climate crisis. As every company has a responsibility to look after the planet and not compromise future generations, ‘Forever Green’ will promote different actions for this.
“We are really happy about initiatives such as ‘Forever Green’, promoted by Real Betis,” explained Sara Aagesen, Secretary of State for Energy. “It is exciting to see how, from the world of sports, brave and responsible steps are being taken, contributing to the sustainability of the planet and helping to create a social conscience. Climate change is a huge challenge, it affects us all and there is a lot at stake.”
“It’s a source pride for LaLiga that its clubs take steps for the sustainability and commitment with the environment, as Real Betis is doing with its fantastic project ‘Forever Green’,” added LaLiga President Javier Tebas. “From LaLiga, we are also supporting our clubs in the generation of such initiatives through the Guide for the Creation of Non-Financial Reports that we have recently presented.”
‘Forever Green’ is developed in five theme areas:
1. Climate change In 2019, Real Betis became the first football club to join the United Nations initiative ´Climate Neutral Now’, committing to measure and reduce its carbon footprint, as well as to compensate its emissions with the purchase of carbon offsets of certified projects for climate protection. To achieve these goals, the club also merged with First Climate, a German project developer and climate protection solutions provider.
After calculating and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, the club took a step forward to compensate its emissions, becoming a Carbon neutral club. To compensate for its emissions, Real Betis decided to support an emissions reduction project in Latin America, the Orosi Wind Farm in Costa Rica.
The project consists in the installation of 25 wind turbines in the province of Guanacaste. Each one of these turbines has a capacity of 2 MW. This project contributes to the diversification of the Costa Rican energy matrix by using the wind energy potential of the country. At the same time, the project offers an important alternative to the prevailing use of hydroelectric plants and a new option for energy generation during the dry season.
Recently, Real Betis has also become the first football club to join the ‘The Climate Pledge’ by Amazon, accepting the challenge of taking decarbonisation measures through real changes and innovation, which consist of efficiency improvements, the use of renewable energies, material reduction and other strategies aimed to eliminate carbon emissions.
2. Recycling With the cooperation of specialised companies such as Ecoembes and Ecovidrio, the Club wants to undertake different waste separation and collection actions to create a recycling culture among its fans.
3. Mobility In normal conditions, Real Betis gathers around 50,000 fans in its Benito Villamarín stadium on matchdays. The club will promote different campaigns to motivate sustainable transport with electric vehicles, bicycles or public transport. The idea of ‘Forever Green’ is for fans to be the club’s main allies in the fight against the climate crisis.
4. Nature In line with this idea, the club is suggesting several ecological actions to create a greener planet. Some of these ideas are the creation of urban farms, reforestation, or actions to clean the River Guadalquivir.
5.- Club sostenible In an effort to further reduce its carbon emissions, the club installed a LED lighting system at the Benito Villamarín stadium. In the near future, solar panels will also be installed to generate photovoltaic renewable energy for self-consumption.
Additionally, Real Betis is a pioneer in its direct connections with LaLiga’s web services. Thanks to these processes, the club has automated and improved the services for its season ticket holders, allowing 67% of them to renew their season tickets online in previous seasons. This season has been 100% online, eliminating the impact generated by transport.
The Club has also created an online season ticket, which allows for digital access to the stadium via the season ticket holders’ smartphone, eliminating paper from these operations. The system will be used for single match tickets.
In line with the ‘Clime Neutral Now’ initiative of the United Nations and ‘The Climate Pledge’ from Amazon, the Club will continue working on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and to create awareness among its followers about the climate crisis.
The American agency Activista has contributed to build the Forever Green platform. Activista is a creative company based in Los Angeles committed to push social, cultural and economic change through the power of extraordinary ideas.
The EFL and Papa John’s have signed a three-year deal that will see the UK pizza takeaway company become the Official Title Sponsor of the EFL Trophy.
The exclusive partnership, which will run until at least the end of the 2022/23 season, sees the competition, become known as the ‘Papa John’s Trophy’ with immediate effect. In addition to the title sponsorship, Papa John’s will also be the Official Pizza of the EFL.
The EFL has a unique reach into communities, offering local activation on a national scale with Clubs spanning every corner of the country from Colchester to Carlisle and Plymouth to Sunderland, often sharing locality with at least one of Papa John’s 450 branches.
EFL Chief Commercial Officer, Ben Wright, said: “The EFL is delighted to welcome Papa John’s as title sponsor of the EFL Trophy and a new addition to the League’s portfolio of partners.
“As we continue to navigate through the challenging times that the coronavirus pandemic presents, it is testament to the growing appeal of the EFL that we are able to attract new partners and invest the sponsorship fee into the competition through payments to Clubs, which is important during this difficult period.
“We look forward to working with Papa John’s over the next three years to build on the success of the competition and create Papa John’s Trophy moments for us all to celebrate.”
Commenting on the launch, Papa John’s UK Marketing Director, Giles Codd said: “We’re very excited to be named title sponsors of the EFL Trophy. It’s a real honour to be able to support EFL clubs in what is undoubtedly a tough time for everyone involved.
“It’s always been our goal to serve the best ingredients for the most memorable occasions so we’re incredibly proud to be supporting such a great football competition.”
Supporters will see Papa John’s feature for the first time in the build up to the next round of EFL Trophy group stage matches, which will take place on 10/11 November, with opportunities to win match passes, signed merchandise and exclusive discounts off orders. The competition concludes with a showpiece Wembley Final on Sunday 14 March, one of five EFL Finals held at the national stadium every season.
Sport1 GmbH has launched a new, pan-European eSports channel with eSportsONE.
eSportsONE goes on-air on Tuesday, November 3 in several European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Following the successful launch of the first linear TV channel for esports in the German-speaking region with eSPORTS1, this is the first time SPORT1 is implementing a pan-European project.
The pay-TV channel eSportsONE will be distributed via the M7 platforms TV Vlaanderen, CanalDigitaal and Skylink at launch. Moreover, M7 serves as the central satellite distribution partner. Further platforms in numerous European markets will be added in the coming weeks. Central content partners are ESL, the NBA 2K League and Psyonix with the esports titles Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3, NBA 2K and Rocket League.
The 24/7 program of the pan-European channel comprises over 1,000 live hours per year of top-class international esports events as well as exclusive, self-produced analysis formats. The program content is prepared for the international target group by SPORT1‘s esports editorial team together with experts and influencers from the English-speaking esports community. All esports events are broadcast with English commentary, while individual highlights are commented by the SPORT1 esports editorial team and broadcast from an own studio.
The central content partner for the pan-European region is ESL, the world‘s largest esports company, with serial top competitions in Dota 2, the Warcraft 3 Pro Tour, the Starcraft 2 Pro Tour as well as numerous additional ESL competitions. In addition, other top esports properties will be featured, including the NBA 2K League and Psyonix‘s international Rocket League Championship Series.
The NBA 2K League, a joint venture between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, is a professional esports league featuring the best NBA 2K players in the world and the first official esports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league. SPORT1 thus also offers a versatile and comprehensive portfolio at the pan-European channel eSportsONE, thereby differentiating itself from existing international offerings.
The agreement with the M7 Group enables the channel to broadcast via satellite as well as via the M7 platforms TV Vlaanderen, CanalDigitaal and Skylink platforms. Further European markets will be added in the coming weeks through additional cooperations.
Olaf Schröder, CEO of Sport1 Medien AG and Chairman of the Management Board of Sport1 GmbH said: “We are pioneers and trailblazers in the growth market esports with its great opportunities: At the beginning of 2019, we launched the first esports channel in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with eSPORTS1 – an important milestone with which we have further expanded our positioning as a leading medium in the German-speaking esports community.
“Now we continue our esports success story internationally and are launching a new, ground-breaking project with eSportsONE as a pan-European eSports broadcaster.Our goal: We want to make esports even bigger in Europe in the future beyond the young core target group and to anchor it even more sustainably in the society.“
DAZN will expand to more than 200 countries and territories beginning Dec. 1.
On Saturday, Dec. 5, rising star Ryan Garcia meets 2012 Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell for the interim WBC lightweight title. One week later, unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua defends his IBF, WBA (super) and WBO titles against mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev from The O2 in London.
“From the UK to Mexico to Australia, we’ve seen an encouraging level of interest in our key events since first launching in 2016,” said DAZN EVP Joseph Markowski. “We’re looking forward to introducing the DAZN platform around the world this December with an exciting schedule of fights.”
Garcia vs. Campbell won’t be available on DAZN in Poland. Joshua vs. Pulev won’t be on DAZN in the UK or Ireland but will be available via a domestic broadcaster.
The initial monthly price point for new markets will be £1.99 or less.
At launch, DAZN’s global platform will feature not only back-to-back fight weekends, but also an ever-growing archive of classic fights, athlete features and a slate of original programming including 40 DAYS, Saturday Fight Live and ONE NIGHT. Additional sports and programming will be added in 2021.
The DAZN app will be available globally on most internet-connected devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, and living room devices such as smart TVs, streaming sticks and game consoles.
Liverpool FC and AXA have expanded their partnership to include the naming rights of the Reds’ new Training Centre in Kirkby.
The state-of-the-art facility will be officially known as the AXA Training Centre and marks the club’s first training complex naming partner.
The renewed agreement will see AXA expand its original training kit relationship to one focused more holistically on training as a whole and become the club’s official training partner, incorporating all LFC training apparel.
Jürgen Klopp’s side are preparing to move into the club’s new Training Centre in mid-to-late November, with the finishing touches being made in preparation.
The Reds will move to the facility after bidding a fond farewell to Melwood, which has been the club’s training ground for 70 years, beginning a new chapter in the club’s illustrious history that will see the first team and youth football operations come together at a combined training facility for the first time.
The new 9,200sqm AXA Training Centre boasts three full-size pitches, goalkeeping and warm-up areas, and indoor facilities including two gyms, a full-size sports hall, pool, hydrotherapy complex and specialist sports rehabilitation suites.
“The expansion of AXA’s partnership to include the naming rights of the club’s new Training Centre makes perfect sense,” said Billy Hogan, Liverpool FC’s chief executive officer.
“We have already seen their emphasis on driving health, wellbeing, confidence and self-belief, and so deepening their relationship in the field of training makes this partnership a great fit.
“We’re pleased to have AXA on board as we start this new chapter at the club and are proud to expand our relationship with a brand that shares our common values and aspirations both on and off the pitch.”
Thomas Buberl, chief executive officer of AXA, said: “We are extremely excited and proud by this landmark step in our partnership with Liverpool Football Club.
“The AXA Training Centre is a world-class facility that will forge a pathway of improvement, progress and success throughout the club’s first team and development squads. This culture and belief truly complement our values of helping people to go further through our tagline: ‘Know You Can’.”
BetMGM, the sports betting joint venture between MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and GVC Holdings has announced the appointment of Ryan Spoon as Chief Operating Officer.
Most recently, Spoon served as Senior Vice President of Social & Digital Content at ESPN. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President of Digital Product and Design.
In those capacities, Spoon helped build, operate and grow many of the leading digital properties in sports including ESPN.com; the ESPN App; ESPN Fantasy, including ESPN Fantasy Football; and ESPN Social. ESPN’S digital properties are the world’s leading and most successful online sports service, boasting the number one sports website and app, as well as number one sports media publisher in social engagement across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Spoon is a two-time Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 winner. Before joining ESPN, Spoon spent time as a venture capitalist at Polaris Venture Partners where he proved to have innate skills in identifying and leveraging trends in the digital space.
Spoon will report to BetMGM’s CEO Adam Greenblatt, who said, “BetMGM has seen early success in establishing itself as a significant player in the sports betting world through relationships with leagues, teams and partners. With Ryan’s expertise in developing scaled and engaging digital experiences, BetMGM will leverage those relationships in entirely new ways.”
BetMGM’s industry-leading platform provides a user-friendly sports betting experience, making it simple to customize pre-game, live in-play, futures and parlay bets. Sports bettors can select from a wide assortment of betting options including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, tennis and combat sports. The app is currently live in six states with the goal of rapid expansion as state legislation allows.
BetMGM’s league partnerships include the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA TOUR and NASCAR. Team partners include the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Detroit Lions, Las Vegas Raiders, Vegas Golden Knights, and more. Strategic partners include Yahoo! Sports and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Spoon said, “The opportunity at BetMGM during these early phases was an immediate draw for me. With the incredible assets of MGM Resorts, GVC’s industry-leading technology, and the many league, team and platform partners, BetMGM is uniquely positioned in the market and I am excited to help drive future growth.”
LG Electronics Spain and LaLiga announced a new sponsorship agreement that aims to bring sport and technology further together in order to improve the fan experience.
The Korean company, a benchmark in innovation and the global leader in television sales, already has extensive experience in the world of sports thanks to the OLED technology it has brought to homes around the world.
Its technology is also present in LaLiga stadiums in the form of videowalls, video scoreboards showing game images, advertising boards, advanced air conditioning equipment and LG cooler refrigerators, on whose translucent doors messages can be displayed for the fans.
LaLiga has developed as a technology leader in recent years thanks to its business intelligence and data analytics strategy, its Mediacoach platform for in-game analysis, its pioneering audiovisual production techniques and its OTT platform, LaLigaSportsTV, which can be enjoyed on multiple devices including LG televisions.
“Joining LaLiga is joining the best show on the planet. Their matches can be experienced in more and more countries and from LG we want to contribute our innovation and technology so that all fans can experience the emotion of LaLiga with the best immersive experience,” said Jaime de Jaraíz, president and CEO of LG Iberia.
“LaLiga is always looking for the best partners, especially in the technological field, where we work very hard to always be at the forefront. In this sense, there is no one better than LG to continue this ambition,” said Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga.
As one of the best audiovisual products in the world, LaLiga has created important new features for its broadcasts such as new graphics using artificial intelligence and augmented reality, spectacular aerial shots using drones and aerial cameras and 360º replay technology.
Furthermore, while fans are currently unable to attend stadiums to enjoy their team live, they can experience LaLiga matches with virtualised stands and crowd audio following new innovations made during April and May of 2020.
IMG today announced a number of promotions within its media and events group led by Adam Kelly and Sam Zussman, Co-Presidents of Media & Events at IMG.
Chris Guinness and Hillary Mandel have both been elevated to Executive Vice Presidents, and Tom Broom and Dale Levin are now Senior Vice Presidents.
Chris Guinness is now EVP and Head of Commercial Worldwide for Media, based out of London. In this role, he is responsible for leading the global commercial media team for IMG’s media business. Guinness has nearly 30 years of global media experience and most recently served as IMG’s SVP and Head of Media, Asia Pacific.
Prior to re-joining IMG in 2007, Guinness was CEO of CSI Sports, which IMG acquired that same year. Previously, he was Managing Director of CSS Stella’s Asia Pacific business. Early in Guinness’ career, he ran IMG’s UK media sales arm and video and inflight/inship business before relocating to Hong Kong in 1996 to be jointly responsible for the company’s Asia Pacific operation.
Hillary Mandel is now EVP, Head of Americas and Global Media Partnerships. Her expanded role includes leading the media group’s commercial efforts and team across both North America and Latin America. She now oversees business development for all Americas-based rights holders and manages the US media consultancy and advisory business comprised of local teams, federations and professional sports leagues.
Mandel has been with IMG for 21 years, initially joining TWI as a VP of Syndication and Programming, overseeing production and rights representation of more than 50 sports rights holders and the company’s expansion into live entertainment broadcasting. She assumed responsibility for North America in 2008, negotiating deals for Wimbledon, The Open and Rugby World Cup among many others, while also bringing in new clients including the NFL, NHL, MLS, NASCAR and Feld Entertainment.
“Chris and Hillary are both outstanding leaders who have gained the respect and trust of federations and broadcasters around the world,” said Adam Kelly. “Their extensive experience and track record of growth will be a great asset to our commercial operation going forward.”
In light of Guinness’ appointment, Tom Broom and Dale Levin will now co-lead IMG’s Asia Pacific media business as SVPs and Heads of Media. Broom will be responsible for North Asia (Greater China, Korea and Japan) and the Indian sub-continent based out of Hong Kong. Levin will look after the South East Asian region (Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) and Australasia based out of Singapore. Both have been at IMG since 2002, and will report directly into Guinness.
The tyre brand, Falken Tyre Europe GmbH, and the top football clubs, Atlético Madrid (Spain) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany), are extending their existing partnerships by a further year until the end of the current 2020/21 season.
SPORTFIVE, the global sport business agency, initially got the cooperations off the ground and has now also facilitated the relevant extensions.
In essence, the individual service packages are comprised of LED perimeter advertising and static perimeter presences, with which Falken secures a TV presence in all European core markets.
Falken already secured the rights as “Official Tyre Partner” and “Premium Partner” with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 2019/20 season and will also continue this partnership during the current season. In addition to this, as the club’s Official Tyre Partner, Falken also has the opportunity to integrate its own logo on the logo wall at interviews, press conferences and similar.
The cooperation with the Spanish top club, Atletico Madrid, which has already existed since the 2018/19 season, is comprised of agreements on various advertising rights, which include a constant logo presence at the home matches of the club in the Atlético “Wanda Metropolitano” stadium.
Markus Bögner, COO and President at Falken Tyre Europe GmbH, comments: “Both of the clubs have tremendous charisma, and I am certain that we benefit from the high level of media presence and the associated media coverage. Particularly as fewer spectators are in the stadiums due to the Coronavirus and the matches will be transmitted on TV broadcasts with wide-reaching coverage.”
Christian Kothe, Vice President Premium Partnerships at SPORTFIVE, adds: “Falken Tyre has already been a partner of SPORTFIVE since 2015 and is aware of the long-term, positive impact of the football presence in respect to its own brand. Both of these extensions with European top clubs prove the continuity of Falken Tyre as an established player in the sports business and will once again help to achieve the communication objectives of the brand.”
