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| Whoop's athletic performance tracking system--Courtesy of Whoop |
Elite athletic organizations have a big investment in their roster. Now, startup Whoop has raised $12 million to help them track, analyze data and guide athletes to achieve peak performance and better realize their promise.
Its wearable system tracks 5 metrics: instantaneous heart rate; heart rate variability for variations that might provide insight into cardiovascular health and recovery; skin conductivity to monitor hydration as well as to better understand activity and sleep latency; ambient temperature for understanding the body's response to activity, as well as accelerometery and motion tracking.
It's already in trial use by athletes training for the 2016 Olympics, as well as at athletes on teams across all major professional sports leagues and college conferences, the company said. These include the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, Major League Soccer and the English Premier League. The Whoop device is also in testing with the military.
"At the elite level, it's no longer just about outworking your opponents to get an edge. In fact, research shows that 30 percent of athletes are overtrained, which can lead to injury and poor performance," Mike Mancias, the athletic trainer for basketball star LeBron James and a Whoop adviser, commented in a statement.
He continued, "It's only by balancing intensity with recovery that athletes can optimize performance. Whoop's system and the data it provides helps me gain a better understanding of each of my individual athlete's bodies, their capabilities, and their limitations, leading to better and safer athletic performance."
The wearable is designed for continuous use and can be recharged while it's worn. It sends data via Bluetooth to an analytics platform that analyzed intensity, recovery and sleep performance. The financing is intended to help the startup better target these professional and collegiate teams, as well as to develop the next generation of the technology.
"Whoop is the first performance optimization system targeted exclusively at elite athletes, teams, coaches, and trainers," said Two Sigma Ventures Managing Director David Joerg. "As a technology-driven investment manager, Two Sigma shares the Whoop appreciation for the power of data."
Two Sigma led the Series B financing with participation from Mousse Partners, Accomplice, Promus Ventures, Valley Oak Investments, and NextView Ventures.
- here is the announcement