Digital sports and entertainment media company Whistle Sports recently closed a Series C funding round worth $27.5 million, it was announced Monday.
Investment firm Beringea led the round with $4.6 million in financing along with broadcasting and digital media companies including NBC Sports Ventures, TEGNA, Sky and Emil Capital. The announcement comes after a banner year of new strategic partnerships with the MLB, NFL, Sky Sports, NBC Sports, Verizon go90 and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
“2016 was a hugely successful year for us as we connected fans with the sports they love in new and exciting ways and helped athletes, teams, leagues and brands develop deeper relationships with those fans. Backed by this new investment, we are excited about building on this success and continuing to grow in 2017 and beyond,” John West, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Whistle Sports said in a statement. “In particular, we look forward to further developing our analytics practice to provide brands with the detailed insights they need to better understand and engage with millennial sports fans.”
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Added Karen McCormick, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Beringea in a statement: “The way that sport is broadcast and consumed has changed significantly in recent years, becoming more brand-led and interactive. Meanwhile, the way in which consumers interact with their favorite brands continues to evolve, with social and video content increasingly important to building and sustaining relationships. Whistle Sports’ passionate and dynamic team operates at the intersection of these two trends, and we are excited to help them drive continued user engagement and revenue growth with this investment alongside some heavy hitters in sports and media.”
Over the past three years since its launch, Whistle Sports has tallied more than 300 million followers and subscribers across social media, with more than 45 million in the United Kingdom. Currently, content delivered by the New York City-based company for social, digital, television and OTT platforms receives close to two billion views every month.