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We enable angels to co-invest with leading funds, family offices, and corporate venture, providing access to the very best deals.

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Standouts

🏀 NBA Launches Private Equity Division to Invest in Startups – The NBA has been acquiring equity stakes in companies for nearly a decade, but investments were rare and never really a focal point. Now, a new arm of the league is looking to change that with a more proactive approach to identifying investments.

🏦 JPMorgan Launches Life-Sciences Venture Group – JPMorgan Chase & Co. has launched a healthcare venture-capital practice, entering the market at a time when innovation in the life sciences remains high but investment has pulled back from last year’s record pace.

🤩 Steph Curry, Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams join TMRW Sports’ all-star investor lineup – Athlete investors include the NBA’s Stephen Curry, the National Football League’s (NFL) Josh Allen, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Trea Turner, the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Sidney Crosby, US soccer star Alex Morgan, Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton and tennis icon Venus Williams.

🇳🇱 Amsterdam-based medical AR startup Augmedit raises €1M – Amsterdam-based Augmedit, a medical software company that develops augmented reality tools for surgeons, announced on Tuesday that it has raised more than €1M in its Seed round of funding.

🌌 A dignified death – New York-based Guaranteed raised $6.5 million in seed funding led by BrandProject with participation from Precursor, Springbank, Lakehouse and Cake Ventures, bringing total funds raised to just over $9 million. The startup envisions superior, tech-enabled hospice care in the comfort of home.

💰 RedBird eyes Jeff Zucker to lead US$1bn sports investment fund – Zucker, who oversaw Turner Sports under then-WarnerMedia, is in talks to lead a $1 billion sports investment fund for RedBird Capital Partner’s Gerry Cardinale, the managing partner and CEO of the New York-based investment firm.

Best of the rest

🏈 Former NFLer’s Fund of Funds Gives Pro Athletes Seat at Venture Table – Ryan Nece spent seven seasons in the NFL, even winning the Super Bowl in 2003 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now NPC, his fund of funds, offers LPs diversified access to “world-class” venture fund managers and venture-backed investment opportunities.

👂 Yes Hearing catches $10M Series A – Blue Heron Capital led the round for the hybrid hearing care startup, joined by Primetime Partners, Ensemble Innovation Ventures, Maccabee Ventures and Gaingels.

🇮🇹 Pozzo family in talks with US company to sell stakes in Udinese and Watford – The Italian club are sixth in Serie A and are valued at approximately £175million ($200m) but it is unclear at this stage exactly how much equity is being sold.

👮‍♂️ MedCrypt lands $25M injection to secure vulnerable medical devices – MedCrypt is a Y Combinator graduate that provides software for anything the FDA would consider a medical device where cybersecurity could be a concern, from insulin pumps and heart rate monitors to AI-based radiology tools and autonomous robots.

🏈 Bezos, Jay-Z Reportedly Teaming Up on Commanders Bid – Two of the biggest figures in U.S. culture and business are teaming up to buy the Washington Commanders. Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z are both interested in buying the NFL team.

💬 Emalex Raises $250M For Tourette Syndrome Treatment – Biotech startup Emalex Biosciences announced on Thursday its $250 million Series D raise, led by Bain Capital. Also participating were Paragon Biosciences, Valor Equity Partners and Fidelity Management and Research Co.

⚽️ Portland Timbers and Thorns attracting interest from former Nike exec – Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Portland Timbers and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Portland Thorns are both attracting interest from potential bidders as owner Merritt Paulson comes under increasing pressure to sell.

🎲 Scrimmage Raises $600,000 Pre-Seed Round to Support Cryptocurrency-Based Gamified Rewards Betting System – Scrimmage, a Web3 wallet startup that rewards sports bettors with cryptocurrency, has raised a $600,000 pre-seed round ahead of the company’s launch planned for later this year. The funding round is led by Miami Marlins co-owner Roger Ehrenberg through his Eberg Capital and IA Ventures funds.

🚲 Sequoia Capital China Backs E-Bike Maker at $590 Million Valuation – Sequoia Capital’s Chinese arm is leading a funding round in Aventon at a post-investment valuation of $590 million, compared to a $200 million valuation in a fundraising eight months ago.

🕶 ForeVR raises $10m to create the "Wii Sports of VR" – The Series A was led by Lobby Capital. It also included participation from existing investors, namely VC funds Bessemer Venture Partners and Galaxy Interactive.

🧫 Jeito Capital becomes a significant investor in HI-Bio – The company is a clinical-stage biotech company developing targeted therapies for patients with severe immune-mediated diseases.

🍄 Crypto Billionaire Brock Pierce Joins Psychedelic Venture Fund – Brock Pierce, the crypto billionaire, economist and philanthropist serving as chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, has joined Jeremy Gardner’s psychedelics-focused venture fund Mystic Ventures as a general partner.

🇮🇳 Tiger Global-backed Games24x7 introduces Rs 400-crore fund for early-stage startups – Online gaming unicorn Games24x7 is launching a Rs 400-crore investment fund to explore early-stage targets in the interactive entertainment space.

🏉 Wasps accept takeover offer as Worcester Warriors identify preferred bidder – Both clubs were relegated from the top-flight Premiership due their financial issues, but Wasps’ joint administrators have now confirmed that an offer has been accepted from a consortium including members of the club legends.

💰 Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches $50 Million In-House Investment Fund, for sports Startups – Dick’s Sporting Goods has dedicated $50 million to form DSG Ventures, a new fund to invest in sports startups focused on retail operations, artificial intelligence, youth athlete training, and other areas to improve the customer experience.

🧠 VC investors eye burgeoning field of startups for serious mental illnesses – Primary Venture Partners is an investor in Alma, a local health-tech company that helps therapists manage their practices and partner with insurers, but the firm has yet to invest in a mental health startup that specifically targets serious conditions, Toole said.

💵 RedBird sells Wasserman stake to Providence – Red Bird Capital Partners and Madrone Capital Partners have sold their stakes in the Wasserman agency to fellow US private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.

🧠 Digital mental health platform Healios raises £14m – London-based digital health tech startup Healios has secured £14m in funding to expand its mental healthcare services across the US via its subsidiary Meliora. Founded in 2013, Healios provides digital mental health support to children, young people, and families dealing with conditions like autism and ADHD.

🎾 Mark Cuban unveiled as first Vibe Pickleball League team owner – The new competition, which is connected to the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour, will start play in 2023 with six teams, each with a roster of male and female athletes.

👩‍⚕️ Bay Area female-led medtech picks $15M to develop new treatments for patients with complex diseases – California-based Boomerang Medical, a women-led bioelectronic medicine startup, has closed $15 million in Series A funding. The investment round was led by existing investor Arboretum Ventures and new investor Hatteras Venture Partners.

🙍‍♀️ Gynecological Health Startup Eyes US Launch with $11.5M in Series A Funding – With $11.5 million in Series A funding, the company is launching in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2023. Daye sells to consumers and employers, and offers products for period pain, at-home vaginal screening and vaginal infections.

🤖 Navina, the health tech company that uses AI to produce patient medical history summaries for doctors, has raised $22 million – The financing was led by Alive Israel Healthtech fund, with participation from existing investors, doubling the total investment to date to $44 million.

🇸🇬 Singapore gene therapy startup Nuevocor snags more funding – Nuevocor develops adeno-associated virus gene therapy for the treatment of genetically defined cardiac diseases. Its main program is gene therapy for cardiomyopathy.

🇩🇪 German space tech startup Constellr raises €10 million to protect the global food supply with water monitoring system – The Freiberg-based startup has just secured €10 million to scale its solution, helping to protect future life on earth.

🦾 Portland healthcare AI startup snags a $20M investment round – Carta Healthcare, which uses artificial intelligence to help health systems reduce costs, announced Wednesday it has raised a $20 million Series B funding round.

🧠 Options MD raises $2.35M to expand virtual care for severe depression – The pre-seed will be used to expand the startup's clinical operations and research as well as improve its proprietary clinical protocols.

🍄 Psychedelics Company's $60M Series A For Startup To Develop Treatment For Mental Health Disorders – Biotech company focused on creating next-gen serotonergic neuroplastogen psychedelic compounds to treat severe neuropsychiatric and neurological conditions Lusaris Therapeutics launched with a $60 million Series A financing.

🧠 Virtual mental health provider Valera Health raises $44.5M – The company treats high acuity patients, including those with depression and schizophrenia.

‍🎮 Playgig raises $10.85M for cross-platform game studio – The firm is headed by former Riot Games executive Bruno Schirch, who previously ran esports and global publishing for the maker of League of Legends.

💼 HealthJoy snags $60M to scale up healthcare benefits, navigation platform – The company snagged $60 million in series D funding led by Valspring Capital. New investors Endeavour Vision and CIBC Innovation Banking also participated in the round along with existing investors US Venture Partners, GoHealth co-founders Brandon Cruz and Clint Jones, Health Velocity Capital, Nueterra Capital and Epic.

😴 Mattress startup The Sleep Company raises Rs 177 cr in Series B – D2C mattress brand, The Sleep Company has raised Rs 177 crore in a Series B funding round led by Premji Invest Opportunity Fund.

🌳 Virtual care startup aiming to improve rural health via headsets raises cash – Hippo Technologies, a Vancouver, Wash.-area startup developing tech to connect patients in rural areas with specialists, raised seed funding from Ochsner Health, a large health system based in New Orleans.

🤝 Wasserman buys BSE Media Group to strengthen talent marketing and branding services – The Madrid-based firm specialises in sporting event activations, full-service social media operations, advertising campaigns and conference planning.

🏥 Hospital for Special Surgery Raises $21 Million to Launch Musculoskeletal Physical Therapy Program – New York-based HSS is renowned as the top-ranked orthopedic hospital in the U.S and its specialists serve as team doctors for the Nets, Mets, Giants, Knicks, Liberty, and Red Bulls, among other NY/NJ sports teams.

🧫 Biotech Company GenoPalate Raises $5.6 Million from Investors – GenoPalate has grown steadily to become a leading provider of nutrigenomics testing and analytical services for consumers seeking to make healthy dietary and lifestyle choices.

👄 Breathonics raises capital in Pre-Series A – The company has raised capital in pre-Series A funding led by OliveX, with participation from MADworld, Aspen Digital and several noted angel investors.

👩‍💼 Midi Health Secures $14M Investment To Bring Expert Midlife Care for 40+ Women – The company closed a $14 million seed investment co-led by Felicis and SemperVirens. Additional investment comes from leading women's health investors including Emerson Collective, Icon Ventures, Operator Collective, Muse Capital, Steel Sky Ventures and Anne and Susan Wojcicki.

💰 Google quietly acquired a Seattle digital health startup that built an app to monitor breathing – The tech giant acquired Sound Life Sciences, a small University of Washington spinout that developed an app to monitor breathing.

💻 Elion Raises $3.3M in Seed Funding for Digital Health Technology Marketplace – The company raised from leading digital health investors NEA, Max Ventures, 8VC, AlleyCorp, Charge Ventures and Floating Point, with additional participation from a broad set of healthcare founders and angels.

🧃 Buddha Brands Closes $5.25 Million – The makers of better-for-you, plant-based snacks and beverages, closed a $5.25 million round of funding from leading capital investor, Fondaction.

🇬🇧 Bristol eye health app raises £2m in pre-seed funding round – OKKO Health closed a £2M raise led by Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures. Plug and Play Tech Center reinvested in this round, alongside angel investors including Bristol Private Equity Club.

👩‍⚕️ Hazel Health Secures Series C1 Funding – Hazel, a leader in school-based telehealth, closed a $51.5M Series C1 funding round with participation from Tao Capital Partners, Owl Ventures, Firework Ventures, Memorial Hermann, and Carrie Walton Penner through Fiore Ventures, among others.

💊 Southeast Asia-focused Vitamin Brand YOUVIT Raises US$ 6 Million Series B – Unilever Ventures led the round, along with participation from existing investor DSG Consumer Partners and several other new investors.

🧠 Valera Health Announces $45 Million Growth Equity Financing – The raise for the virtual mental health provider serving high acuity patients was led by Heritage Group, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, with participation from Cigna Ventures, Horizon Healthcare Services and existing investors.

Some tweets

‍Luke Metro @luke_metro – All the layoff announcements are doing a good job of illuminating the cultural divides between tech’s employee class and founder/VC class that have been simmering for the past couple years

‍Kyle Krzeski 👋 @kylekrzeski – Is it just me, or do bootstrappers tend to root for each other more than VC backed companies do?

Olivia Charlotte @olivia_at_gaia – To my darling founders who are "changing the world": We are venture capitalists, not venture philanthropists. There are a number of wonderful NGOs and grant programs that I am happy to point you to, but at the end of the day, VC = return seeking 🌎

P.S.

Counting the minutes to Thursday, when England play India in the semis of the World T20. Be there, 8am sharp!

Yours in sports,

Ed
—
Ed Rhys
Co-Founder / Skin In The Game
skininthegamegroup.com

Join our syndicate

If you find this newsletter useful, consider joining our FCA regulated investment syndicate connecting investors with groundbreaking startups in sports & health.

We enable angels to co-invest with leading funds, family offices, and corporate venture, providing access to the very best deals.

Join Our Syndicate

SKIN IN THE GAME GROUP LIMITED is registered in England and Wales under Company Number 14338473 and with the FCA as an Appointed Representative with FRN 984265. SKIN IN THE GAME GROUP 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.

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