CRESSKILL, N.J.: PlaySight Interactive, an Israeli sports technology company that invented the so-called tennis SmartCourt, has announced an extension of its Series C financing round to $21 million, welcoming new investors SoftBank Ventures Korea, a SoftBank Group early stage venture capital arm based in Seoul, and CE Ventures from Hong Kong.
For the record, PlaySight also lists former World No.1 men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic and golfing great Greg Norman as investors.
In June, Norman and Verizon Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of Verizon Communications Inc., announced a combined $11 million investment in Playsight, which used Israeli air force technology as a base for its instant video analysis, Forbes reports.
Other prominent investors in Playsight include tennis stars Billie Jean King and Pete Sampras.
PlaySight’s SmartCourt technology leverages both multiangle video and proprietary analytics to improve on-court performance and connect athletes.
PlaySight-powered teams include the 2015 and 2017 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, the 2017 NCAA Champion North Carolina Tar Heels, over 50 NCAA tennis programs, the United States Tennis Association, and leading clubs, academies, federations and schools across the globe.
The company is also working with top high schools and professional teams across across 25 sports, including soccer, American football and volleyball, in over 20 countries.
“PlaySight’s vision is to become the technology platform of choice used by the mass market of youth, amateur and professional sports,” said Jay Choi of SoftBank Ventures Korea. “It is only a matter of time before all competitive sports will adopt video and connectivity solutions in their courts and arenas, and PlaySight offers the highest performance solution and innovative business models to suit customers of all types.”
“Finding the right fit in a partner is of the utmost importance to us,” said PlaySight CEO Chen Shachar. “SoftBank Ventures Korea believes in our vision for bringing technology to all areas of sports. We’re focused on the athlete, but along the way we have created a platform that is providing tremendous value to teams, leagues, friends, family, fans and more. We’re rapidly connecting the entire sports ecosystem, whether it is through athletic improvement, automated content production, video assistant refereeing, or by simply making the experience more fun, challenging and engaging.”
