Nextiles Raises $5M in Oversubscribed Seed Round to Fuel Growth in Smart Athletics
Nextiles’ Smart Fabric Tech Attracts Strategic Capital from Drive by DraftKings, the NBA, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. and Three-Time Olympic Champion Hilary Knight
NEW YORK, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Nextiles, a smart fabric technology for athletes, today announced its $5M seed round led by Drive by DraftKings, with participation from the NBA, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., Alumni Ventures, SmartSports, Phoenix Capital Ventures and Newlab. The new round includes investments from prior round investors and customers, as well as an investment from three-time Olympic ice hockey medalist Hilary Knight. The new funding will be used to accelerate Nextiles’ patented fabric-based sensor platform and usher in new analytics across all sports.
This round brings Nextiles’ total funding to over $6M, building on top of the company’s recent government grants. In late 2021, Nextiles was awarded two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Science Foundation and Air Force, both focusing on biometric research.
“We are honored to have attracted strategic investors who believe in our vision of a more connected future,” said Dr. George Sun, CEO and Founder of Nextiles. “Our success has proven the need for a reliable and comfortable technology platform for athletes, so we’re excited to accelerate our expansion into other sports and launch new products later this year.”
At its core, Nextiles is a materials science company that merges flexible electronics with its patented sewing technology. The smart threads are force-sensitive, can be sewn into any fabric and measure mechanical changes via Bluetooth as the fabric bends, stretches and twists. Nextiles is the only company in athletics today capable of providing real-time Newtonian force analytics and 3D motion capture from compression clothing.
“Nextiles is building the future of wearable technology with its semiconductive threads, providing breakthrough movement analytics for athletes to improve technique and avoid injury,” said Drive by DraftKings CEO and Managing Partner Meredith McPherron. “We are thrilled to partner with Nextiles as they expand their product application across all athletics.”
Nextiles is in the market with baseball and tennis today, and through participating in the NBA’s inaugural NBA Launchpad initiative, Nextiles quickly realized there were several opportunities to apply its technology in elite basketball.
“What stands out to us about Nextiles is its materials science expertise and overall approach to the human performance industry,” said Tom Ryan, Vice President of Basketball Strategy at the NBA. “We’re excited to support Nextiles in its next phase of growth as we continue to help design and test new solutions to better quantify performance.”
Later this summer, Nextiles will launch its Nextiles Sleeve platform in the tennis market and in collegiate baseball. Nextiles will also launch its suite of ground force products in early fall for select customers.
For more information on Nextiles or to become a beta tester, visit: www.nextiles.tech
Founded in 2018, Nextiles is an innovative materials science company merging flexible electronics with soft goods to create a data analytics platform that measures human performance. The company combines patented, fabric-based sewing technology with data insights to quantify raw forces, range of motion, micromovements, and more. Nextiles is the only company in athletics today capable of providing real-time Newtonian force analytics and 3D motion capture from compression clothing. Backed by the Air Force, Drive by DraftKings, MSG Sports, the NBA, and the National Science Foundation, Nextiles is poised to disrupt the human performance industry.
Drive by DraftKings is a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in sports tech and entertainment. Our founding partners include DraftKings, General Catalyst, Accomplice and Boston Seed Capital. Drive by DraftKings is unique among investment firms as a fully independent and highly strategic venture capital partner. Together with inspired founders pushing the frontier of new markets and categories, driving the future of sports, gaming and media.
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