Buzzer, a NYC-based mobile platform for personalization and discovery of live sports, closed a $20M Series A financing.
The round was led by existing investor Sapphire Sport and new investor Canaan Partners with participation from LaMelo Ball, Devin Booker, J. Cole, Wayne Gretzky, DeAndre Hopkins, Sabrina Ionescu, Michael Jordan, Patrick Mahomes, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Renee Montgomery, Naomi Osaka, and Bobby Wagner, as well as early investors Lerer Hippeau and Anthony Noto [SoFi, Army West Point]. Other investors include:
- more than 20 current and former athletes including Pat Connaughton, Madison Hammond, Scotty James, Christian McCaffrey, and Apolo Ohno;
- team owners David Blitzer [New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers], GSW Sports Ventures [an affiliate of the Golden State Warriors], Steve Kaplan [D.C. United, Swansea City], Steve Koonin [Atlanta Hawks], Lerner Enterprises [Washington Nationals], Stephen Pagliuca [Boston Celtics], Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk [Charlotte Hornets, 23XI Racing], Steve Simon [Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever], Jeffrey Vinik [Tampa Bay Lightning], and WISE Ventures [shared ownership of Minnesota Vikings, Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride];
- leaders in the sports and entertainment community including Ros Gold-Onwude, Ibrahim Hamad, Devin Johnson, Estee Portnoy, and Taylor Rooks; and
- investment firms Black Capital, Chetrit Ventures, JDS Sports, Jump Capital, LionTree Partners, OneTeam Partners, Targa Partners, and Micromanagement Ventures, the fund of the late David Stern.
In conjunction with the funding, Sapphire Sport partner Michael Spirito joined Buzzer’s board.
The company intends to use the funds to scale its product, build new features that lean into the social aspect of sports, develop new partnership opportunities, as well as grow with key hires.
Founded by CEO Bo Han in 2020, Buzzer provides a new mobile platform for personalization and discovery of live sports. It simplifies the discovery and viewing experience of live sports on mobile in a short-form live format. The platform aggregates and organizes live sports streaming rights into one accessible mobile platform, and allows its users to set up customized alerts based on their preferences. Current league partners include NBA League Pass, PGA TOUR and NHL with additional partnerships slated to announce in the coming months as Buzzer continues to expand as a multi-sport, aggregated platform.
Buzzer is currently in Early Access and available for download on iOS in the App Store and Android in the Google Play Store. Users can download the app and build profiles by selecting preferences for their favorite players, teams and leagues. They are then added to a waitlist, until they receive full access to the app at which point they are able to consume live content. The platform will officially launch later this year.
FinSMEs
04/07/2021