Whoop, a US-based developer of a performance optimisation system for athletes backed by IT services firm Infosys and labour organisation National Football League (NFL) Players Association, has closed a $55m series D round, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Foundry Group led the series D round, investing alongside Two Sigma Ventures, Accomplice, Thursday Ventures, Promus Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank as well as multiple angel investors.
Founded out of the Harvard Innovation Lab in 2011 and originally known as My Bobo, Whoop has created a sensor-equipped, screen-free wristband that tracks the user’s activities to generate performance metrics accessible through a smartphone app.
The company offers the device for free – though it initially sold for $500 – and generates revenue through a subscription fee to access performance metrics.
The funding will allow Whoop to develop a wider range of wearables and analytics capabilities. Will Ahmed, chief executive of Whoop, said the sensors could be attached to other parts of the body and thus become “invisible” to third parties.
Whoop has now raised more than $100m in funding altogether. NFL Players Association participated in a $25m series C round in March 2018 that was led by UAE71 Capital, and also included Durant Company, Thursday Ventures, Two Sigma, Accomplice, Promus, Mousse Partners, NextView Ventures and several private investors.
Infosys provided $3m in December 2015 to help close Whoop’s series B round at $12m. Two Sigma, Mousse Partners, Accomplice, Promus, NextView and Valley Oak Investments had injected a $9m initial tranche three months earlier.
