Startups Investment Recap – October 29

Future closed a $24M Series B round

Future, a subscription app that virtually teams users with real-life fitness coaches, closed a $24 million Series B round led by Trustbridge Partners, with Caffeinated Capital and Kleiner Perkins joining as return investors. The funding comes 18 months after announcing a Series A led by Kleiner Perkins. The funding will be used to expand Future’s network as Mandal aims to have 1,000 coaches on the Future platform by this time next year. Amid the at-home fitness boom, Future has seen major growth of its own. CEO Rishi Mandal says that the company’s growth rate has tripled in recent months.

VSPN raised close to $100M in a Series B funding round

Esports “total solutions provider” VSPN (Versus Programming Network) has raised what it describes as “close to” $100 million in a Series B funding round, led by Tencent Holdings. Other investors that participated in the round include Tiantu Capital, SIG (Susquehanna International Group), and Kuaishou. The funding round will go toward improving esports products and their ecosystem in China and across Asia. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Shanghai, VSPN was one of the early pioneers in esports tournament organization and content creation out of Asia. It has since expanded into other businesses, including offline venue operations

VENN closed a $26M Series A round

Streaming startup VENN, two months after its official launch, announced that it has closed a $26 million Series A round of financing to expand its gaming and esports network. The funding brings VENN to $43 million total raised to date. The latest round was led by broadcaster Nexstar Media Group and esports investment fund Bitkraft. Others contributing to the Series A included Eldridge Industries, WISE Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, and Josh Kroenke. VENN will use the funding to further expand its content creation capabilities and continue to enhance the distribution of their ‘instant and everywhere’ viewing experience.

MindLabs raised $1.82M in pre-seed investment

London Based MindLabs announced it has raised USD $1.82M in pre-seed investment led by Passion Capital, with participation from SeedCamp, as well as several founders of British consumer tech startups. MindLabs was founded earlier this year by Adnan Ebrahim and Gabor Szedlak. MindLabs’ goal is to make taking care of your mental health as normal as going to the gym. Its platform will launch next year, first with a mobile app that combines live videos from mental health professionals, and will later also include an EEG headband, called “Halo,” that measures signals, like heart and respiration rates, that can help show users how effective their sessions are.

Genius Sports will go public in a $1.5B merger with dMY Tech II

Sports data and technology specialist Genius Sports Group (GSG) has confirmed plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange after agreeing on a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) dMY Technology Group II with a transaction value of approximately US$1.5 billion, which is based on the initial enterprise value of the newly combined company. Founded in 2000, London-based GSG acquires official data from sports events around the world and supplies it to sports betting operators. Its 500-strong client portfolio includes the National Basketball Association (NBA), US college sport’s NCAA, world soccer’s governing body Fifa, the Premier League, and Nascar.