Article originally from bloomberg.com
NBA, NFL Investments Push Hyperice Valuation to $700 Million
Hyperice, a maker of performance recovery products, is valued at $700 million after raising $48 million from the National Basketball Association, the NFL’s investment arm 32 Equity and a group of professional athletes including tennis star Naomi Osaka, golfer Rickie Fowler, the Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt and Houston Rockets’ Russell Westbrook.
“We’re looking forward to working with these athletes and organizations who have had an authentic connection to the company for years,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Huether said in an interview.
Irvine, California-based Hyperice, best known for a massage therapy device known as Hypervolt, will use the funding to accelerate growth, improve artificial intelligence capabilities and develop its connected fitness effort, known as HyperSmart. The latter syncs with Apple Health and Strava to develop curated recovery routines for users based on their workouts.
Hyperice, which uses vibration, percussion, compression and thermal technology to aid in recovery, is set to exceed $200 million in revenue in calendar 2020. That’s about 20 times more than its $10 million in sales in 2017, Huether said, noting that September was the company’s best month yet. The company has been profitable for the past five years, he added.
“I’ve realized how crucial recovery is to getting the most out of my training and preparing my body for competition,” Osaka, ranked third in the world in women’s tennis, said in an emailed statement. “Hyperice has improved my body and overall health and I know will be fundamental to having a long and healthy career, which is why I invested and want to use my platform to encourage every athlete to take recovery seriously.”
Athletes including Fowler, Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons and Jarvis Landry are invested in Hyperice through Main Street Advisors, a Santa Monica-based investment advisory firm founded by Paul Wachter that led the fundraising round with SC.Holdings, a private equity firm founded by Jason Stein and Eastbridge Group. Stein will be joining Hyperice’s board.
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