In this week's magazine, my SBJ colleague Mollie Cahillane looks at The CW's evolution as a sports network. It's always interesting to me whenever I hear The CW landed the rights to another sports property, since I can't shake the association with the teen dramas my sisters used to watch on the network. But live sports draw eyes, so The CW's moves make sense. -- Mike Boylan
In today's edition of Power Up:
- OxeFit raises $17.5M in funding round
- How Springbok created NBA database
- Iowa State gets Daktronics upgrades
OxeFit closes oversubscribed $17.5M Series A3 round for its smart gym equipment
OxeFit has closed an oversubscribed $17.5M Series A3 round with participation from biohacking entrepreneur Dave Asprey and Solidcore founder Anne Mahlum, bringing the Plano, Texas-based fitness AI and robotics company’s total funding north of $70M.
OxeFit creates smart gym equipment: its consumer-facing XS1 and enterprise XP1 systems. The machines’ capabilities vary slightly, but both combine dynamic resistance and form tracking data to create personalized training programs for users. OxeFit chairman and CEO Rab Shanableh said the new cash will primarily go towards research and development.
“We’ve got [performance] data, that’s the good news, and now we’re going to create value adds,” Shanableh said, referencing sports-specific motion assessments as one example. “It’s infinite. The more we invest in [product innovation], the more useful the technology.”
OxeFit is also rolling out several new AI-powered features for its machines, including adaptive training, health monitoring, digital assistant and gaming functions. The company launched four years ago with a B2B focus – selling to colleges, sports teams and hospitals – and still categorizes that as a little more than a third of its business but has now sold thousands of its XS1 systems, which price between $5,500 and $6,000, Shanableh said.
Asprey and Mahlum join a slew of celebrities and athletes to invest in OxeFit, including Bayern Munich F Harry Kane, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott and pro golfer Dustin Johnson. Shanableh added the company recently opened another $20M round.
“We’re going to take more of the same caliber of the folks, and we’ve started also early engagements with traditional venture capitalists and funds,” Shanableh said. “Do they fit in the A4? Do we start a [Series] B? TBD, depending. We want the right partner that’s interested in data, healthcare, sports, AI – not gym equipment. Yes, we can do the gym equipment thing, but that’s not what OxeFit is about.”
Iowa State getting LED upgrades from Daktronics
Iowa State athletics is getting a major LED upgrade across seven sports venues in 2024 and 2025. Daktronics is delivering more than 20,000 square feet of digital displays at Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium, as well as venues for soccer, swimming, softball and track & field.
This year, Hilton Coliseum is getting a new centerhung display measuring 15.5 feet high by 113 feet in circumference, with two underbelly displays each measuring 6.5 feet high by 11.5 feet wide. A new ribbon board will circle the arena, in addition to four new corner ribbon boards and five LED scorers’ tables.
And Iowa State football’s Jack Trice Stadium will, in 2025, feature four new LED displays, including a north end zone board measuring 36 feet high by 157 feet wide, and a south end zone display standing 36 feet high by 79 feet wide.
