Press Sports, an early-stage Atlanta startup that bills itself as “LinkedIn for athletes,” raised a $1.5 million seed round to focus on product development.
Inside the deal: Massachusetts-based General Catalyst, which also invested in Airbnb, Snap, and Stripe, led the round. Atlanta’s early-stage investment firms Overline and Sound Media Ventures also participated. The seed round brings Press Sports’ total raise to $2.7 million.
About the company: CEO Conrad Cornell and chief marketing officer Drew Williams founded the startup shortly after college. The co-founders grew up playing sports together but didn’t have many pictures or videos documenting their athletic careers. Press Sports allows athletes to have that documentation and build their brands, which is helpful for high school athletes looking for collegiate recruitment opportunities or collegiate athletes looking to monetize their clips. Fans can also browse Press Sports, which is set up like video sharing app TikTok, to research their favorite players. The app has more than 200,000 registered users, mostly at the high school level, Williams said.
Cornell and Williams launched Press Sports in 2018 and have Tyler Droll and Tom Chernetsky, the original founders of anonymous social media app YikYak, on their leadership team. Branndon Stewart, who was a Texas A&M football player and former CEO of software company Outbound Engine, is chief operating officer. Press Sports has a Buckhead office and operates on a hybrid work schedule.
What’s next: The seed round will go toward continuing product development, including launching Press Sports on the Android app store, refining the algorithm and creating web profiles for athletes so recruiters who don’t have the app can still see their reels. Press Sports currently has an eight-person team and plans to expand to 13, Cornell said.
Why it matters: Press Sports’ seed round comes shortly after National Collegiate Athletic Association guidelines changed to allow college athletes to monetize their personal brands. Effective July 1, college athletes can benefit from their name, image and likeness (or NIL) and sign sponsorship deals with businesses.
Press Sports plans to add features this fall that allow college athletes to monetize their profiles. Those features would benefit the “95% of other college athletes” who don’t go to top conference schools and may not receive deals from other businesses, Cornell said. Essentially, Press Sports helps college athletes capitalize on the influencer economy and earn money through their personal social media brands.
The app is also geared toward middle and high school athletes to help them with recruitment and building their brands early in their careers, Cornell said. He sees high school students soon having the same ability to monetize their brands as college athletes.
