LiveLike Secures $9.6 Million In New Funding To Change The Face Of Live Sports Viewing

LiveLike, a technology company re-imagining live sports viewing via experiences that fuse the latest emerging technologies with social connectivity, announced a $9.6 million Series B round, featuring new investors including Greycroft Partners and Lepe Partners. The Series B investors will join existing backers including David Stern, Commissioner Emeritus of the National Basketball Association, Evolution Media, Courtside Ventures, Elysian Park, Dentsu Ventures, and the GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund.

The company’s mission is to make live sports viewing more dynamic and immersive by leveraging VR, AR and MR, to more broadly appeal to the tech-obsessed sports fans. The end result is a live streaming platform that transports users into an interactive 360 degree “virtual suite” overlooking the field of a featured sporting event, where via Facebook they can connect with friends or fellow fans to watch the game.  

Users can select different camera angles and have instant access to a wide range of stats, highlights and replays. LiveLike’s white label solution enables broadcasters and sports leagues to stream the interactive content it creates and produces under their own branded network or league app.

The new investments come following a breakout year for the Company. LiveLike quickly proved the potential of its platform by forging partnerships with marquee sports organizations and broadcast rights holders such as FOX Sports and French Tennis Federation, and producing global sports events, from Super Bowl LI, UEFA Champions League Final, and the NCAA Basketball Big East Tournament, to the French Open tennis tournament.

“LiveLike has been successful because we have built a platform that connects with younger generations seeking a more non-traditional experience,” says Andre Lorenceau, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LiveLike.

“Thanks to our investors, we are now in a position to hire for key positions and continue delivering a premier next-generation sports OTT platform.”

 “We have all seen that the media landscape is changing.  With the rise of cord cutting and the increased competition from e-sports, there has come a true need to evolve and innovate live sports viewing.  What has me excited about LiveLike is how they are bringing social viewing to live sports in a way that connects friends and fans like never before,” Stern says.

Miheer Walavalkar, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of LiveLike says, “Today, sports remain arguably the only must-see live television attraction, but even then audiences are multi-tasking – scanning social networks, scrolling news feeds and checking stats. We know this demographic is expecting and demanding a more customized and personalized viewing experience.  LiveLike has been built from the ground up with understanding their needs.”

LiveLike will utilize its new investment to expands its partnerships, and further build out its product and platform to make it even simpler and frictionless for users. This will include creating increased cross-platform compatibility, an evolved user interface to make content discovery even more intuitive, and new in-product experiences – such as fantasy sports integrations – designed to spark additional social interactions. Moreover, it will look to build new compelling advertising opportunities that enable marketers to connect with sports fans in groundbreaking ways.

“It has always been in FOX Sports’ DNA to explore different and imaginative ways to serve our fans,” says Michael Davies, FOX Sports SVP Field & Technical Operations.

“To that end, in our nearly two years of working with LiveLike, creating our FOX Sports VR app and working on sports like hockey, football, basketball and soccer, we have found them to be innovative, nimble, and attentive to this exciting and rapidly changing platform. We are looking forward to continuing to imagine the future with them.”

“Sports has driven innovation in technology forever. The live, social viewing experience is literally a game changer. LiveLike has found a way to put audiences in the center of the action and capture big plays in real time, together with your friends,” says Jon Goldman, Venture Partner at Greycroft.

LiveLike will be announcing additional media and event partners, along with specific details of new product enhancements in the coming months.