With the addition of $65 million in new financing, Durham sports technology firm Teamworks has raised a total of $165 million, the company announced Wednesday.
It’s a large haul – particularly in light of current macroeconomics. So TBJ asked if there was an exit – possibly an initial public offering – in Teamworks’ future.
Mitch Heath, co-founder of Teamworks, said the Durham company is “open to all possible outcomes.”
“I think we’ve always had a mindset of – just grow a great business,” he said. “Don’t focus too much on trying to position for a certain outcome – build a great business and great things will happen. But we are further along in the journey, so we have to look at what those potential outcomes might be.”
Heath declined to talk about the possibility of an initial public offering.
Teamworks. Which provides tools for coaches and administrators to support athletes, has raised $115 million in just the past year.
In conjunction with its latest raise, the company announced another acquisition, that of ARMS Software, which works with more than 400 collegiate athletic departments to help them recruit talent and automate operations. It’s the fifth recent acquisition for the firm.
Heath said the latest financing haul will fuel additional deals. It will also allow the company to fund innovation in its existing products and bring on more engineers.
Teamworks has grown to more than 300 employees. While many of those workers are remote, the firm still has its headquarters in downtown Durham.
Teamworks origin story
Teamworks was the brainchild of former Duke University football player Zach Maurides, who built the initial version for Duke and then saw the platform had legs as a standalone company. Heath joined just as Maurides was taking it on full time.
Heath was graduating from Duke with a job offer. The plan was to take on a consulting position in Washington, D.C. But in 2007, the startup ecosystem was starting to make waves. Heath met several founders, just to learn about opportunities. Maurides was one of them. And the opportunity he was tackling was so compelling that Heath stayed, rejecting the other job and taking on a co-founding title after graduation.
Heath said he hasn’t looked back.
“I love the ownership that comes with doing something really hard,” he said. “I’ve said for a long time, if we succeed, it’s our fault. And if we fail it’s our fault.”
Heath said he hopes other startups find hope in Teamworks’ most recent announcement, that yes, there’s a downturn, but opportunities – and capital, is still out there.
Teamworks declined to disclose its financials or how much runway the latest raise gives the company. But Heath said performance has been “great” in recent years.
In a statement, Christian Jensen, partner at the investment firm that led the latest round, Dragoneer Investment Group, said the firm “checks” all the boxes.
“Their efficient and durable growth over the last several years is impressive,” he said in a press release. “But what excites us most is their vision for an integrated platform that will fundamentally transform how sports and military organizations operate to support their athletes, service members, and staff.”
The complete operating system Teamworks is building through its acquisitions “will digitize the athlete and service member life cycle and provide an open platform for third-party software providers to integrate into,” the release said.
