Meet 'Krossover,' It's Receiving Funding From The Biggest Names In Sports

Loading...
Loading...

Statistics is a growing sub-industry within the sporting world, where the analysis of games is exponentially helpful to teams, coaches, recruiters and individual players. Enter Krossover.

The New York-based firm recently closed a Series B round of investing totaling $20 million, funded in part by basketball hall-of-famer David Robinson's private equity fund Admiral Capital Group.

In addition to Robinson's support, Krossover has received funding from Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross and former New York Jets executive Matt Higgins' co-founded RSE Ventures' portfolio.

As reported by Bloomberg, while Krossover's most recent funding has been led by Ross and Robinson, "other backers are Cleveland Cavaliers owner and Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert and Lyrical Partners' Jeff Keswin, who founded Greenlight Capital with David Einhorn."

Krossover has been used by clients such as NCAA champion Villanova, the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team and the University of Denver's men's lacrosse team.

"The new capital will be used to enhance its video technology, founder Vasu Kulkarni said," Bloomberg reported. "Among Krossover's products is a basketball video clip service in which the company tags players to specific plays in which they were involved. It also has tools for parents of players and for recruiters, who can receive video and statistics of players they're tracking."

Following the most recent round of funding, Benzinga had the opportunity to speak with Krossover Found and CEO Vasu Kulkarni.

Loading...
Loading...

Related Link: Meet "Forcerank," The Crossover Between Stock-Picking And Daily Fantasy Sports

Exclusive Benzinga Interview

Benzinga: Will Mr. Ross and Mr. Robinson be providing any assistance into Krossover's day-to-day operations, or in the client outreach/BD department?

Vasu Kulkarni: RSE and Admiral Capital are structured institutional funds, so these are traditional investments they are making. We're certainly excited to leverage their NFL and NBA network however, especially given our recent foray into helping NBA teams prepare for the draft. Last year, we had three teams sign with Krossover as an additional resource to help make draft decisions, and we expect several more to be on board this year as well.

BZ: How many clients does Krossover have to date?

VK: We've worked with over 10,000 teams now, across basketball, lacrosse, football and volleyball. Primarily North America, but we do have a presence now in over 20 countries.

BZ: What sport league is Krossover most concentrated in? What sport would it like to become more involved in going forward?

VK: "High school in the United States is obviously the largest market, just based on pure numbers – there are 36,000 high schools in the country vs about 4000 colleges. Basketball was our first product, so that's our biggest sport, but lacrosse isn't too far behind with an estimated 20 percent of the market using our product now at the high school, collegiate and pro levels.

BZ: How's the demand environment look for game video analytics look, in general? I imagine most of the demand is acyclical, but I am curious if certain sports are more cyclical than others.

VK: This is pretty much a seasonal business per sport, but luckily different sports play at different times of the year. The other interesting thing though, is that many sports are becoming year round – you finish your high school basketball season, and quickly transition to club summer ball now. So slowly but steadily, we're starting to see the historically dead summer months, turn into a great opportunity for our business.

BZ: What specific initiatives will be done with the latest round of capital?

VK: We're continuing to do grow our customer base, add on more sports (hockey and soccer are coming soon) and become a mobile first company, given the direction in which the world is headed.

BZ: Who are Krossover's closest competitors? I know STATS is one. Is MLBAM another? Any publicly traded competitors like Mobileye or others?

VK: We play in a very different space, although I'd say STATS is a competitor because of their acquisitions of SportVu, ProZone and others.

Loading...
Loading...
Posted In: SportsStartupsExclusivesTechInterviewGeneralAdmiral Capital GroupBloombergDan GilbertDavid EinhornDavid RobinsonGreenlight CapitalJeff KeswinKrossoverLyrical PartnersMatt HigginsMLBAMMobileyeProZoneQuicken Loans Inc.RSE VenturesSportVustatisticsSTATSSteve RossUniversity of DenverUniversity of KentuckyVasu KulkarniVillanova
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...