Startups Investment Recap – July 7

Lululemon to Buy Mirror, a Fitness Start-Up, for $500M

Lululemon, the purveyor of expensive athleisure and activewear, is betting on the future of personalized remote exercise as a way to reach customers by acquiring Mirror, a home fitness start-up, for $500 million. Mirror, which is based in New York, expects to bring in over $100 million in revenue this year and either break even or be slightly profitable in 2021 The purchase fits with Lululemon’s ambitions to become an experiential brand that helps customers live a “healthy and mindful lifestyle across multiple experiences”.

PlayBrain closed a $6M Series A round

Japanese esports content provider PlayBrain announced that it has closed a $6M USD Series A financing round. The round included participation from existing investor BITKRAFT Esports Ventures. The new funding brings the company’s total funds raised to $8M. PlayBrain revealed that it plans to use the funds to grow its footprint, expand into additional esports and entertainment properties, and strengthen its commitment to leading the creative direction, operation, and commercialization of League of Legends Japan League.

Replai secured a $1.3M seed round

Portuguese esports startup Replai has secured an investment of $1.3 million (£1.05 million) in its seed funding round. The funding was led by Bright Pixel with a contribution from Ideias Glaciares and Clever Advertising. Replai uses artificial intelligence and automatically collates highlights from competitions that are live-streamed to “create short-videos in real-time and increase the value of esports’ audiences.” The company is aiming to expand internationally into both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Pixellot completed a $16M Funding round

Pixellot Completed a $16 Million Funding round to Accelerate AI-Automated Sports Production. The financing round included participation from the company’s existing investors with the addition of Altschuler-Shaham, Israel’s largest investment house. The funding will go towards accelerating the sales and marketing activities to address the growing need for safer, more cost-effective solutions for broadcasting and stats. This serves a particularly important need given the current evolving sports landscape in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

F5 Sports closed a $2.1M Seed round

F5 Sports announced that it successfully closed a $2.1 Million seed round of funding. The company has also hired technology industry veteran David Rose as Chief Executive Officer to lead the company’s continued expansion. The funding will be used for product development and commercialization of the company’s baseball products. F5 Sports developed the pitchLogic baseball and mobile app, which enables baseball players at all levels to develop proper throwing mechanics faster and reduce the risk of injury.

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