Smart basketball maker SportIQ has completed a $6.2M Series A round over two closings, mostly recently adding $3.2M in new funding from a group including KB Partners, Koppenberg Management and Match Ventures.
SportIQ makes a one-gram sensor that can be placed in the ball’s air valve to track its movement and rotation and other performance metrics. The FIBA-approved ball caught the attention of the NBA for its possible application to automated officiating and graduated from the league’s startup program, NBA Launchpad, last summer.
“NBA Launchpad and the automating officiating product help momentum, certainly,” SportIQ CEO Erik Anderson told SBJ. “Our consumer sales were stronger than expected, so the combined momentum helped a lot.”
SportIQ, which has dual offices in L.A. and Helsinki, is planning a new consumer product in Q2 of this year and has an early prototype for a smart ball in another sport, Anderson added. The new investment will support those efforts and market expansion.
